Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Shattered Destiny
by Static Stardust
Summary: A young Shinx awakens to find his mind distorted into chaos and confusion, heavily injured and lost without meaning. Unable to find answers, he finds himself struggling through a dangerous path to put together his broken past - and future.
1. Painful Awakening

Deep, deep, endless, horrible darkness.

He wasn't exactly sure how, or when, but at some point he became aware of it.

He became aware that his eyes were shut tight, squeezed together and blocking out everything around him. With his eyes closed, he was nothing, just a scrap of consciousness that floated in an endless abyss of black...

No...not endless. Something was there. He knew something, remembered something, recalled something. He could almost feel it drifting away, feel it slipping farther and farther until it was out of reach.

At the last moment, when he was aware he'd been in the darkness for some time now, he reached out for the memory.

It had become too faint to even fully grasp anymore, but some of it flowed back into him.

Shouting.

Crashes.

A terribly, horribly bright light.

The light was probably the most vivid part of the memory, if that was what it was. He remembered it almost clearly, how the harsh brightness swirled around him, piercing his eyes, stabbing and stretching every muscle in his body, searing his skin. The more he focused on the memory of that awful light, the more he remembered the pain it had brought. It had been so striking, so absolutely agonizing. The more those memories of pain rolled through his head, the more real it felt.

And then, he somehow realized that the pain he was feeling and recalling _was real._

Bright gold eyes shot open.

The pain immediately intensified, and his eyes just stared up, glazed and confused. He saw faint blurs of things he didn't know, spots flaring and clouding his vision. Gradually, as he stayed still, his eyes like frozen orbs, his vision cleared, and he could see well enough to decipher what was in front of him.

All around him, judging from the grays he stared up at, was stone. Cold, hard, uncomfortable stone. It was slightly cracked, but it looked very sturdy and flat. Almost unnaturally sturdy and flat.

Actually, _very_ unnaturally sturdy and flat.

He moved his head, which made it spin, but once the world wasn't tottering he saw that there were walls of the same gray stone around him. It was odd.

He began to wonder where he was.

The pain was blazing in several places. His head, his leg, his paws, his flank. His belly ached like a live rat was eating it from the inside out. _Hunger,_ He decided as his stomach continued to throb. Yes, it was official. He was very, _very_ hungry.

It became obvious he had to do something. He knew what he had to do, but he didn't want to. It'd be easier to lie on the cold stone ground, surrounded by stone, waiting for everything to go away...

The longer he just stayed, lying sprawled on the ground, the more clear it became he had to move. A sense of dread and anxiety had fallen over him for an unknown reason. Something about where he was just... _didn't feel right._

His stomach let out a growl. He blinked hard, making his decision.

And he struggled to his feet.

At first, he felt nothing. In fact, it felt like he _was_ nothing. Everything disappeared for a moment.

And then it all came rushing back.

He immediately crashed back onto the ground, agony shooting through his body. His tail spiked straight up before flopping over his back, his muscles tensing from the harsh, unbearable pain. He let out a soundless scream, maw opened wide in an attempt to cry out. Tears erupted from his eyes.

It took what felt like an hour for him to collect himself enough to try again, though it had probably just been minutes. He slumped up, raising himself, stumbling and attempting to take steps. His vision was a blur of nauseating dizziness.

He placed his paws down in what he attempted to be confident, but an intense spike of pain shot through his right paw. He let out a hiss, raising the foot that throbbed. Once his vision was steady again, he looked at it. The sight sent a burst of dismay and fear into him.

His paw was twisted, broken and bloody. Dark red stained the fur that should have been blue. It looked like thousands of rocks had crushed it, leaving it in the pitiful shape it was in.

He couldn't walk with it, unless he was willing to risk further damage. He growled a bit, raising his right front leg so he didn't put any pressure on it.

Now on 3 legs, a pitiful, stumbling mess that knew nothing but terrible pain, he tried stumbling along.

At first he wasn't sure what he was looking for. Supplies. Help. A way out. After a few minutes of staggering forwards, leaning on the odd stone walls for support, his main objective became apparent: He needed food and water, and badly.

He wasn't sure how long he stumbled around. He remembered a crossroad. Maybe two. His mind was a blur that wasn't working. He wanted to collapse and stop trying, but something kept him going. Probably his terrible thirst and hunger. His voice was too weak to cry out.

After what felt like days, he bumped into a wall. His eyes had been half-closed. Something felt odd about this wall, though. It felt...cold, and...and...

... _Wet._

His drooping eyes shot open;he immediately threw himself at the water. It turned out there was a puddle on the floor. The water wasn't clean, but he didn't care. He lapped up what he could get. After there was no water left in the puddle, he licked the drops of water falling from his muzzle.

Not much, but the water definitely cleared his head a bit. He looked at the wall he'd bumped into. It must have been splashed before he'd gotten here. The water made it shiny, shiny enough to be reflective.

He stiffened.

A small, awful-looking Shinx stared at him, eyes wide and haggard.

In an odd way, the form felt wrong yet familiar. He studied it carefully, making sure the small Pokemon that gazed back at him was indeed his own reflection. He twitched his tail-it was long and black, with a bright gold star at the tip. The reflection twitched back at the exact moment, copying his every movement.

He wasn't sure why such dismay rose in his chest;he studied the Shinx carefully, noting the injuries that covered it. Oh, there were many. A gigantic red sore on the Shinx's forehead, sticky with red that dripped across his face. A large wound that had been torn into his chest and throat that oozed and pulsed blood. There were many scratches and gashes along his body-one on his back, many zig-zagging across his flank, some on his legs, one on his ear, it even appeared that there was one on his belly, the way blood was dripping slowly from it. He now realized his entire body was dripping with red-red dribbling off his head and face, scarlet leaking from the long cut on his belly, crimson staining his blue fur so much he could hardly tell it was supposed to be blue, all these reds dripping and dropping and gushing from his awful, scarred, battered body and leaving a puddle of ugly blood on the ground.

The sight of him made his terrible pain get worse, and he felt horribly sick;he felt his belly lurch in an awful way and he retched, though there was nothing in his stomach to come out. His vision became so blurred he couldn't decipher the reds from the grays, and he became so terribly dizzy that he swore he was being spun around. His head pounded in his skull, blinding him even more...everything felt awful and sickening and he wanted it all to stop more than ever.

The Shinx lifted his throbbing head and let out an anguished cry, letting the world around him know about his pain. It wasn't loud, it wasn't clear, but the sound of it rang through the stony corridors he stood in.

The small Pokemon crumpled into a heap, unable to do anything until his pain ebbed away and he could keep searching for food. He felt nauseous and ill, and he could feel himself shaking.

It was maybe an hour until he hauled himself up again. The image of how bloodied and battered he was was permanently etched into his brain, as if somebody had taken a knife and carved it in so he would never, ever be able to loose the memory.

 _It's me…_ He found his scattered, slurred mind muttering as the image pressed back against his mind. There was no denying it, he had absolutely no doubt the tiny blue Pokemon reflected on the wall had been him.

"It's me." he whispered, surprising himself. It hurt to talk, and he tasted blood on his tongue before he had even finished the simple phrase. The voice was a lot higher than he expected or liked, and a lot more pitiful as well. Painfully swallowing the blood that had come up when he'd spoken, the Shinx shuddered and continued to stagger through the stone corridors.

* * *

A lot of walking...a turn into a wider passageway….he kept walking...

A loopy sort of path...he made the turns, nearly slipping as he found himself out of the thinner passages...

He stumbled into what appeared to be a room, and his heart nearly stopped. A tiny brown bird was curled up in the very corner of the small room, making a sort of whistly sound as it let out long, deep breaths. The Shinx felt absolute terror, and he felt another shiver run down his spine, though it wasn't one of pain or terror. It was a jolt of warm and cold at the same time, flickering through his fur in just a second before the odd feeling was gone.

After a few minutes of standing still, the Shinx finally realized: the bird was fast asleep! He felt a sigh of relief pass from his mouth. A strange instinct washed over him for a moment, to attack the Pidgey, maybe let it fill his empty belly. However, he dismissed the hunter's instinct after a second of thought. He knew he couldn't survive a single attack, not even a scratch or peck from the bird. Caution rolled over him again, though-he could not wake the creature, or the danger he had been worried about moments ago would appear as fast as a Pokemon could open it's eyes.

Carefully, he began inching his way through the room. He stuck close to the stone walls, since he would probably fall and wake up the Pidgey if he tried balancing on three legs with nothing for support. There was another passage at the end of the room, close to where the Pidgey slept. When he got close to it, he made sure he was as absolute quiet as he could manage.

 _Almost...away...safe…_

He crept into the corridor, leaving the room and the snoozing Pokemon alone.

 _Yes!_

For the first time, the smallest spark of something besides awful emotions flickered in his heart. He tried to place it. Happiness? Pride?

Pride. He was proud of himself for getting through the room and avoiding the danger.

The slight bit of pride was immediately drenched under another wave of icy terror when he heard voices.

Something was shouting. Not far, not too close. He looked forwards. This hallway of stone wasn't as long as the other ones he'd made it through before the room. He felt his heartbeat quicken as another shout, then a crash, came from ahead.

He ever so slowly crept forwards, feeling himself quake with fear. If something was ahead, and it attacked him, he would probably die. His entire body was on high alert, the weird shivers going through his body again. He saw everything as a threat, every sound was danger.

He wished he could run.

And then, as he neared the entrance to the next chamber, he saw it.

A huge, lumbering beast with long tusks that swerved around wildly, making a slight _whoosh_ as they swished through the air. Dark gray armor covered the gray monster's trunk and back, and, the Shinx felt his eyes grow with even more horror, the large beat rolled up into a huge, speeding ball in a second.

He felt his shaking get worse. His mind somehow let him know the name of this Pokemon, _Donphan…_ , before it turned and locked its gaze on _him._

 **"YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIII!"**

The frightened Shinx winced as an explosion of light burst in front of him. For a moment he was reminded of the painful white light he'd been remembering when he'd first woken up, but then the room cleared and he saw the once powerful and frightening Donphan struggling to it's sturdy feet.

As white smoke parted from the Donphan, however, another Pokemon became visible in the room. The Shinx squinted his eyes, which were seeing blurry, and made out a pale-and-purple feline shape.

The feline lashed its tail and sprang at the hardy Pokemon, pale paws outstretched. He winced again as it collided with the elephant-like creature, who made out a loud, low grunt.

There was a word in his mind as he watched with wide eyes as the cat slashed its claws furiously against the Donphan's face. _Delcatty, I guess that's its name_. He decided, still watching the smaller Pokemon fighting the larger. Studying its form as it leapt back to avoid getting hit by the Donphan's long white tusks, he decided the Delcatty must be a female.

There was a quick _shyoom-shyoom-shyoom_ as a flurry of sharp-looking leaves sailed through the air, each hitting the Donphan's armor with a satisfying _plink_ or _chysk._ The Shinx leapt in the air when he saw one of them spiraling in his direction, feeling a slight _whoosh_ as the razor-sharp crescent flew past his ear. He hit the ground with a rush of extreme pain and dizziness, now several feet inside the room and a lot closer to the battle than he would have liked.

This room was much bigger than the one with the sleeping Pidgey. Now that he was closer, the Donphan was even more terrifying: It's hard dark gray armor, pale blue underscales, sharp white tusks, and large sturdy feet made it more than easy to believe losing a fight with it would hurt a lot.

There were also three other Pokemon in the room. One was the Delcatty that had been attacking the elephant with her claws. There was a small green-and white Pokemon backed against a wall, the leaves on it's head sticking straight up. The third Pokemon was a bright pink sheep with pale blue-white wool covering the upper half of its body. None of them seemed to notice him.

His panicked mind was flaring with terror as the Donphan let out a mighty roar. The three Pokemon that seemed to be against him were yelling directions at each other, but not in an unorginized or hostile way. It felt natural, like they'd done it before and they weren't very worried.

A small ball of greenish light began to form on the Petilil's leaves. He watched as it got bigger, the greenish energy pulsing larger and larger until it was the size of the summoner's body. With a shriek the Petilil released the ball of energy and let it hurtle at the massive armored elephant, who had almost no time to react as it noticed the energy ball rushing in its direction. There was a slight explosion sound, and then the green-white smoke cleared away to show the Donphan had been hit hard under his armor.

He wasn't sure how long he watched the battle. All three Pokemon darted in and out of range, each attacking the Donphan with different techniques.

Finally, after what felt like forever and nothing at the same time, the Donphan let out a roar of defeat and stamped away through a large, wide passageway on the other side of the room, thankfully not using the one the Shinx stood in.

Cheers and sighs of relief swept through the three fighters. Relief also swept through the Shinx, as the Donphan's defeat meant he wasn't in danger of being crushed under its hard armor or heavy legs. He sighed, and a squeaky sound escaped from his mouth.

Immediately the three Pokemon swung their heads to look at him, and the pain and terror resurfaced. They weren't a huge Donphan, but they easily outnumbered him. Unable to run, the Shinx quickly dropped his stance into a crouch. He felt the same shivery sensation rushing through his fur, but this time he welcomed it, realizing it felt pleasant and invigorating. He let more of the odd shivery sensation come out, and he heard a faint crackle. A jolt ran through him as he realized what it was- _electricity._

Fur crackling with sparks, the Shinx looked up and felt his heart skip a beat. The pink sheep was standing right in front of him, her dark eyes studying him. He shut his eyes quickly, bracing himself for whatever attack she wanted to throw at him…

"It's not attacking."

He felt himself loosen the slightest bit. Her tone wasn't hostile, and her words weren't either.

"Are you sure?" another voice called, sounding unsure.

He felt a little pat. It wasn't painful at all, in fact, it was kind of comforting. His electricity sort of faded away, too.

"Positive." He looked up, and he confirmed it was the Flaaffy talking. One of her paws was on his head.

He realized, as he studied her, that there was some sort of bag or pouch slung over her woolly shoulder. It was made of some sort of thick brown leather, and it looked absolutely stuffed with some items of some sort.

And then, to his horror, the Flaaffy looked down and stared directly _at him_.

He felt her eyes gazing into his, and he tried studying them for real now. They had none of the crazed hostility the Donphan's had had, none at all. Instead, concern and caring and good-nature floated in the dark purple orbs. He felt an immediate reaction of trust as they stared at each other. This Pokemon was different from the aggressive beast.

"Ar-You're not okay…" the Flaaffy murmured to herself, looking worried.

The Delcatty padded up to him, and she had the same caring eyes as the Flaaffy. Her huge purple ears flatten with concern when she saw him. "Oh dear," she muttered, tail twitching. "How is it-"

The third Pokemon, the Petilil, bounded up to them. She didn't hold herself with the tired thoughtfulness of the others, but with a more excited and curious air. The small bulb Pokemon peered at him, tilting her large green-and-white head.

The Shinx felt very uncomfortable with the three pairs of eyes on him. He ducked his head, curling over his empty stomach for a moment.

There was a scuffling noise, and he raised his aching head again to see the Flaaffy digging through the bag on her shoulder. She finally pulled out a small bright blue thing, and he felt his eyes widen. Immediately his stomach made a loud growling noise.

He darted at the berry and stuffed it in his mouth the second the Flaaffy's pink paw held it out close enough.

Flavor hit his tongue even before his teeth crushed down the blue berry. It was sweet and slightly sour, with a bitter taste that clashed with the sweeter part. He gulped down the delicious juice from the berry and chewed at the pulp, which stayed in his mouth. More bittersweet juice spurted from it, and after chewing he swallowed again, feeling the berry go down with relief and satisfaction. He felt his belly fill a little. Just that one berry made him feel so much better.

Licking his muzzle, which dripped with blue, he looked up. The three Pokemon were peering anxiously at him. It was more than obvious to him that they were trustworthy. They didn't have crazed eyes or bared teeth, and they seemed to want to help him.

"T-thank you," the Shinx rasped, struggling to speak. His mind was much clearer, though, and it was getting easier to string together words by the second.

The Delcatty nodded. "It's our duty to help lost or troubled Pokemon. You are not a Wild. I can tell."

 _Wild_. He was confused at the word.

"It was in your eyes," the Delcatty continued. "A Pokemon can tell a lot by its eyes. So much. We could see you were not feral, just hurt, by looking through yours."

He swallowed, looking steadily at the cat. There was some awkward silence as he struggled to find what to say.

"I'm Lily!" the small Petilil said cheerfully, interrupting the silence. She sounded and looked the youngest of the three. "And this is Violet and this is Nitzi! And we're team Dazzletaz! Nitzi made up the name, isn't it so super clever!?"

She spoke fast, and with extreme enthusiasm. The Shinx tried processing everything the Petilil had spurted out. _Lily. Violet. Nitzi. Team. Dazzletaz…?_ He paused mid-thought. _What kind of stupid name is Dazzletaz of all things?_

The Delcatty, who was most likely Violet, shot a dark glance at Lily, but she kept talking cheerfully, not noticing the feline's message.

"And who are you? This Dungeon doesn't have Shinxes, haha, and you aren't Wild, at least, you don't seem or act or look like one. Well, maybe you do. Look at yourself! You're all gross and torn up, ew, did you get into a fight with something? What happened to you?"

"LILY!" Violet snapped harshly, glaring daggers at her teammate.

He shut his eyes, his headache returning with every word the Petilil uttered. However, her question had made him blank. What had happened to him? He thought hard, racking his memory.

Shock and dismay pierced his heart after a moment.

He found nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Not a single thing, besides that painful white light.

He had no memory of anything, besides this place.

"What happened to you?" Lily repeated again, ignoring the Delcatty's warning.

He gulped, feeling extremely sick again. He was scared now, but in a different way. "...I…..don't know."

Nitzi the Flaaffy tilted her head. "You don't know?"

"I don't know…" the Shinx confirmed, his voice wavering. He wanted to cry, cry in confusion. He was so, so confused, lost and scared and unsure and….

He hardly knew why, why, why he felt these things...

"Okay...what's your name?" the Flaaffy asked, sounding only the slightest bit uncertain possible. "It seems possible that you lost some short-term memory in here, but if we have your name it'll be easier to find out what happened.

Panic rose in the Shinx's aching, dripping chest. "I-I don't know!" he sputtered, feeling dizzy. He shut his eyes tight, trying so hard, trying so _desperately_ to just _remember_ …

He couldn't. He couldn't remember.

Violet tipped her head. "What?"

"I...I don't know...I...can't remember….I'm...I-I'm scared….I don't know anything…." he strang his fumbled, panicked thoughts into words slowly, trying to resist breaking down. He wasn't sure, wasn't sure why he wanted to cry, wanted to hurt something, wanted to scream in frustration. He wasn't sure of anything. His mind was blank, empty, with huge holes where things should have been. He felt himself whimper.

There was deep, dead silence, and he could only hear his heart beating furiously and his ragged breathing. He felt himself shivering, and he swallowed again, blinking fast.

"What...do you mean?" Nitzi sounded confused and uncertain.

He didn't answer. _I don't know, I don't know, I don't know anything!_ His empty mind sang over and over again. He thought the berry had made him better, but he felt worse than ever before with a clear mind.

Lily started talking again. "Well, if you don't have a name, I guess we'll have to give you one! Hmmmmmm…." he felt the hyper Petilil study him. "Hrmm...ah! Y-you look like a Jay to me!"

 _Jay?_ "No…" he murmured, his mind spinning. That name was wrong, not even close, it could not be him, could not, could never fit him… "T-that's not me…"

"Sure it can be!" Lily sang cheerfully, grinning. "Your fur is the color of jaybirds and bluejays, well, I'm sure it is when it's not all yucky and red. Jay is such a nice name! It fits you, I know it does!"

"Lily," Nitzi said, turning to the bouncing green Pokemon. "Shut up. Right now."

Lily cocked her head, looking a bit hurt, but she obeyed the older Pokemon.

"I...I'm not a Jay…" he muttered, his voice fading, but he wasn't sure if the team was listening. They all appeared to be thinking deeply. Nitzi played with the blue wool all over her chest, which sparked with energy every time she curled and pulled it.

"Alright." Violet confirmed, nodding in his direction and stepping to him after what felt like years. "We're going to take you to our base and get you fixed up. You...should be able to remember once you're better. Your wounds look serious."

He heard the uncertainty in her voice, but he forced himself to believe her, believe her every word. And so he nodded his agreement, feeling a new weariness spread over his aching body.

 _I'll remember soon_ , he repeated to himself desperately, over and over again. _It's just because I'm so hurt...I'll-I'll remember soon..._

 _..._


	2. Unsure Wanderings

...

 _Don't be so foolish._

 _Don't complain._

 _I'm doing you a_ favor.

 _I'm giving you_ what you asked for.

...

...

 _This is what you asked for._

* * *

 _Energy._

The Shinx jolted awake, feeling a surge of strong energy pulse through him. He felt himself nodding off into a drowsy, half-conscious state a few moments after the jolt, but he didn't fall back into unconsciousness. Instead, he let himself float in the dark, his brain circulating basic thoughts. A faint bitterness ebbed at the corners of his mind, too far and blurry to reach. Whenever he tried reaching for it it seemed to become foggier and clearer at the same time, an odd experience to describe. It felt like other things were scattered around his mind, but they were so blurred and distant he couldn't even tell if they existed.

The Shinx stirred after a few seconds, rousing from his dream-like state so that he was more aware. He felt a bit sleepy, but sparks of awakeness coursed through him every few seconds, warding the sleepiness away. His body felt clean and soft, and one of his paws felt numb and heavy.

"Oh dear, I don't have to give you another shock, do I?"

He frowned at the voice. It was unfamiliar, but it sounded kind. He opened his eyes blearily to see a blurry yellow figure.

"Oh! Oh, nevermind! Looks like one did the trick!" The fuzzy yellow silhouette clapped flipper-like paws, its voice sparking with relief and excitement.

He was confused, now, for sure. He raised a paw to rub his bleary eyes, but it felt too heavy, so after a moment he used another paw. Then he blinked several times, watching the world shape around him.

The first thing he saw was his paws. They were tucked in front of his chest, looking soft and harmless without the sharp claws protruding from their sheaths. One of them, however, was covered in several layers of thick white bandaging. He then looked back to see his dark back legs sprawled out behind him, positioned in a half curled-up like way. Looking around, he saw that he was in a long, cozy pink room lined with what appeared to be beds.

Then the Shinx looked up, and a smiling Ampharos grinned back at him.

"Good afternoon!" the happy-looking yellow Pokemon sang. "I'm very happy you woke up."

The Shinx was extremely confused, and he could only respond with a weak, "What?"

"I saw you sort of stirring, see," the Ampharos explained, his words sounding quick, and almost tumbling over each other. "So I came over, wondering if you would wake up. But you didn't. But, see, I knew you were close to it, and ready. I, well, I think you're strong enough now. Warded off any infections by now, you've been on Antidote for a while. So I decided to, well, give you a little push, maybe help give you the energy. So I gave you a shock to help you wake up. It seemed to do the trick at first, but then it looked like you almost fell back asleep! So I thought maybe another one would help, and I was debating on it, but oh, then you woke up and now you're here!"

The baffled Shinx blinked, his head spinning and hardly able to comprehend the Ampharos's ramble. "...What?" he repeated, even more confused than before.

The Ampharos suddenly looked embarrassed, and he smacked his head lightly with a flipper. "Oh. Oh, of course. Of course. I'm sorry, you wouldn't know what I'm talking about. You have been unconscious this whole time...hah...my apologies, Jay."

"Jay?" the Shinx asked aloud, tilting his head. The name rung a sort of bell, but a very faint one.

"Well, that's your name, isn't it?" the Ampharos asked, cocking his yellow head as well. He tapped his chin with a flipper. "That's what Team Dazzletaz called you...hmm...actually, I do recall the Flaaffy mentioning you had forgotten your name..."

Suddenly the Ampharos gasped. "Oh! My apologies, again!" he exclaimed, sounding embarrassed again. "I keep rambling off about different things, but you haven't the slightest clue what I'm talking about, do you?"

"N-no..." the Shinx admitted. He was very lost, trying to put together all the tiny, incongruous pieces. He remembered a Flaaffy, like the Ampharos had mentioned, and he recognized the name Dazzletaz, but other than that he was just grabbing at loose strings.

"Oh! Let us start over!" The Ampharos put out a flipper. The Shinx wondered for a moment if he was expected to shake it, but then the yellow Pokemon withdrew it and began another ramble. He looked up, trying to focus and put together everything.

"My name is Quioli, but all just call me Dr. Quioli, since I am a doctor. I am one of the doctors in the Destiny Base's Medical Wing. And I was working as usual several days ago. Ten days, I think. Perhaps nine. I will have to check later, I keep a record of all my patients. Yes. Anyways. I was sorting out Rawst Berries, I believe, though they might have just been Oran Berries, when all of a sudden three frantic Pokemon rush in carrying what appears to be a half-dead Shinx! That's you, by the way. So I got right to work! I used some Antidote on all the wounds to ward off any infections, and then I healed you up with whatever worked best! The minor stuff was easy, I deal with stuff like that all the time, but the bigger, more open ones were the ones I was worried about. It's a lucky thing Pokemon heal fast! If you look, most of your injuries have been reduced to light scars that should fade in another week or so.

"Your paw was the hardest part. It was injured quite badly. I tried everything, and I'm fairly confident it'll be fine. Give it two weeks or so and it'll probably be good as new! Still might be a bit sore, though. You were under Sleep Seeds for a while. Even then, well, you were weak. So I assigned you a bed in the Medical Wing, and you've been here for a little over a week. It was around yesterday I started expecting you to wake. And now, well you're awake!" Dr. Quioli breathed for a second and glanced down. "Got that?"

"...Yeah." The Shinx mumbled, half-processing everything.

"The team says they found you deep in the 11th floor of Deep Mountain Caverns, a long and dangerous dungeon, severely injured, and that you claimed you had no memory. Can you remember anything now? It is often that a Pokemon suffers to remember things when in harsh pain, though not being able to remember your own name is a bit of a stretch."

The Shinx concentrated. He was remembering now, but only the things Dr. Quioli had said. The stuff about being lost in the dungeon and being found by Team Dazzletaz. They were not pleasant memories. He could not remember anything besides that. There were just large, empty holes that were missing important pieces he could not find.

Something white flickered through his mind, but that was all.

"Uh..." he muttered, unsure what to say. He felt himself panicking a bit. The more he tried remembering, the more lost and hopeless and doomed he felt.

"Are you all right, Jay?" Dr. Quioli asked, sounding concerned. "You look worried."

"I'm..." he paused, staring at the Doctor. "...My name...it isn't Jay."

"Oh? Well, yes, Team Dazzletaz told me you could not recall your name, but they called you Jay, and so I wrote Jay, and I too called you Jay, so I am sorry if I have been using the incorrect name." The Ampharos made a gesture that resembled a tiny awkward bow. "So, what is your real name?"

"...I'm not sure." he admitted, feeling stupid and foolish, but it was true. The name Jay just didn't strike a chord with him. He only considered it a stupid name that bouncing green Grass-Type, Lily, had given him.

Dr. Quioli raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Well, if you cannot remember, then may I suggest keeping the name Jay, at least until you can recall your real name? It, well, it seems to fit you, though I have seen very little of you when you are not an unconscious heap of fur. It would be much easier to have something to call you."

"O-oh." The Shinx thought to himself for a while. He wasn't sure if he liked the name. He couldn't really see it fitting, for some reason.

But he saw the Ampharos's point. He did need something to call himself, at least for a while.

 _Maybe I can give myself my own name!_ he thought to himself, a thought that pleased him a bit. _Oh, but I don't think now is the best time to start thinking about that._

 _I guess..._

 _Uh..._

 _Sure._

 _Jay is okay for a little while._

"Sure." he said, nodding to Dr. Quioli. "I guess I'll be called Jay for a bit."

Dr. Quioli smiled a bit, and then studied him again. "I'm assuming...if you could not recall your name...you could not recall the rest of your memories, either?"

It felt slamming to hear somebody confirm it aloud. "Y-yes." Jay muttered, his voice wobbling a bit. "I-I mean, n-no, well, no, I can't remember anything, so...you get it."

The Doctor nodded sadly. "I've dealt with several cases of amnesia in my time as a Doctor, both inside the Destiny Base and out. It's a shame when somebody wakes up and can't remember anything. With the spread of dungeons and need for Dungeon Teams growing, there seem to be more and more amnesiacs popping up..."

Jay's ears perked up at a certain detail Dr. Quioli mentioned. "What is...the Destiny Base?"

"Oh!" the Ampharos gasped again. "Of course! You do not know! Hmmm, it's a bit complicated to explain at the moment..."

Jay shrugged, ready to listen, but then another Pokemon barged into the Medical Wing.

"Quioli! Give me some help, here!" a ruffled Leafeon called, scurrying over to a thin desk in the corner that was littered with bottles and berries. Jay watched curiously as she swiftly sorted a few blue and pink berries in her direction.

"Oh! Coming!" Dr. Quioli answered quickly, rushing to the Grass-Type's aid. Soon the two of them left the Medical Wing with the berries, and all of a sudden Jay was all alone.

He was only disheartened for a little bit. Dr. Quioli had left several things buzzing in his head during their short conversation that he wanted to puzzle over and figure out, and he figured that he might as well focus on a few now.

Sighing, the tiny Shinx glanced around the room. Now that his attention wasn't fixed on the Ampharos, he could get a better look of it. It was sort of long and thin, with pink walls and brown wood floors. Small and simple lamps hung from the plain ceiling, casting a warm and yellowish light over everything. A simple open arch made up the entrance, big and wide enough for Pokemon to hurry through, and without a door for them to bother or waste time with opening.

Close to the door was a long brown counter, the one the Leafeon had gathered the berries from. It was stacked, quite messily, with healing items, medicines, bottles, berries, and some loose papers. There seemed to be some sort of sink on the counter as well. Jay tilted his head and squinted at it. It was a dark gray bowl of what was either stone or steel, with a long gray faucet coming out of the top and curving down a little so that the water would pour into the bowl. There was a little handle and bar of soap next to the faucet, too. Jay figured there was some contraption under the sink, but he couldn't see it since there were closed cabinets under the counter.

The counter and sink interested him, but he soon moved on to study the rest of the room. Beds lined both walls, set in even rows on each side that allowed a walkway through the middle of the room, and a bit of space between each individual bed. The beds themselves were a very interesting sight. They seemed to be big, overstuffed puffs of fabric that were covered in dull-colored blankets made of several different types of cloths. Jay occupied one in the middle of the room, on the south wall. Not all of the other beds were empty, though. A large Fearow with twisted and broken wings was sprawled on the top of a bed almost across from him, though it was a lot closer to the door, so more like diagonal-across. There was also a burnt-looking Ledian that was covered in dark black burn marks all over. Both Pokemon looked deep asleep, or at least unconscious.

 _Nobody to talk to, then..._ Jay thought to himself, the Medical Wing's deep silence already getting at him. He rested his head onto his paws, and his chin bumped into something that was sort of papery or clothy. It was the white bandages wrapped around his right paw, the one that had been so messed up before. Thinking about the injury, he realized how much better he felt now. Nothing hurt, and his paw only twinged with pain if he nudged or bothered it. The Shinx winced as he remembered the painful experience of walking numbly through the weird stony place.

 _"...A long and dangerous dungeon..."_

Jay frowned as he remembered Dr. Quioli's words there. The Ampharos had mentioned a lot of confusing things, but he felt like _dungeon_ was important somehow. The maze-like cavern had sort of felt like a dungeon, but he wouldn't really _call_ it one...

Jay spent a while more lost in his own thoughts, trying to figure out what Quioli had meant by dungeon and what the Destiny Base could be. His mind skipped from a flowing blue and pink realm where Pokemons' destinies were shaped by the gods to a hospital to a simple town, but he never settled on a particular idea with certainty.

It felt like _forever_ waiting in the Medical Wing. Soon Jay had exhausted any ideas floating through his head, since most of them were too confusing for him to understand anyways. He amused himself for a while by trying to come up with names for himself, but he couldn't think of anything good, and he didn't mind Jay that much anymore. Had Lily's name really stuck to him?

 _Lily..._

He wondered where the three Pokemon that had saved him were. They were a team, apparently, called Team Dazzletaz. The name was so ridiculous and stupid he couldn't believe somebody would choose it.

 _I wonder...why was Team Dazzletaz there...when they found me?_

 _I would have died if they hadn't brought me to...wherever this is..._

 _I hope I can see them again, sometime._

 _I kinda want to thank them._

 _They deserve a thank-you._

 _They were nice._

Time ticked by at the pace of a Slakoth. Jay attempted to entertain himself by fiddling with the sheets, playing with his bandages, chewing on his tail, guessing what happened to the other patients, and counting all the items on the counter (36). Eventually he could no longer stand his boredom, and he decided that he wanted to leave.

He wasn't sure why. Maybe he wanted to find Dr. Quioli again. Maybe he wanted to thank Team Dazzletaz. He probably just wanted to do something at that point.

 _Maybe Dr. Quioli_ wanted _me to leave? I don't remembering him telling me to stay, though it's probably supposed to be implied? I don't know._

 _...Only one way to find out?_

The Shinx arched his back and stretched, feeling his muscles loosen up. He put almost no pressure on his paw, not wanting it to get damaged again. When he was done, a bit of excitement sparked through him. He was curious what was beyond the room, and what this Destiny Base was, and if there were any Pokemon outside. Jay crouched over the edge of the bed, and he dropped to the ground, careful with his right paw.

He tried walking, and after a few minutes of getting comfortable with it he realized that it was easy to just walk slowly with a bit of a limp. He tripped only once or twice, but he didn't need a wall to lean on like in the dungeon.

Jay trotted carefully through the door, glancing back at the Medical Wing before exiting the room. He found himself in a long, plain stone hallway that was illuminated by small, glowing amber stones engraved into the gray walls. Jay gazed at the tiny stones curiously. They emitted enough light to prevent the stony corridor from being unlit, but Jay found that he didn't really care. His eyes were able to adjust to darkness very quickly.

The Shinx padded through the hallway, feeling more and more jitterty as he went on. The stone felt smooth, but not cold, under his paws.

He began to hear noise as he got farther and farther through the hall. Chattering. Laughing. He began to feel nervous, and slowed down. But the voices sounded happy, so he didn't stop.

Jay reached the end of the hallway, realizing that it was actually pretty short and it had just felt long. There was no door here, either, just a simple open arch that connected the stone corridor to a big, bright room.

Jay felt his eyes widen as he gazed at the huge place. It was pretty big, and he was sure it could fit at least five fully-grown Onix. The walls were gray, but they were draped with so many colorful flags and scarves and posters and signs that you could hardly tell. The ground was made of some sort of lime green moss, a weird choice. Jay's eyes immediately swept over to a gigantic bulletin board on the wall that was crammed with what must have been a thousand papers pinned to its surface. Some of them had bright red _WANTED_ s he could read from all the way at the corridor's entrance, but most of them had small writing he could not read.

The room was overwhelming and exciting enough, but it was also filled with several different Pokemon. A young-looking Buizel was in a rapid conversation with a scruffy Electrike in a corner near the bulletin board, and a Heatmor, Nidorino, and Cranidos were chatting idly. A tall, nervous-looking Goodra was picking off and shuffling through a few papers on the bulliten board.

Jay crept into the room carefully. The Pokemon didn't even turn their heads in his direction. An ear or two twitched, but that was all. Now that he was standing there, the room felt even more impressive. The bright lime moss on the ground, which he'd thought was odd and unnecessary, felt wonderfully soft yet firm under his paws. He immediately crouched down to inspect it. It looked unbelievably clean, and when he prodded and scratched at it, it stayed firm and in its place. The moss was dry and almost fluffy, and felt amazing. He wondered if there was anything under the mossy ground, since it refused to split so he could see. He was absolutely fascinated, probably a lot more than he should have been over something so silly, and he wagged his tail, kneading his paws along the soft ground.

"Hey, you!"

Jay froze, feeling his muscles tense in fear. The voice sounded rough and loud. He turned slowly to see the Cranidos glaring at him.

"M-me?" he stammered, hoping the Rock Pokemon was talking to someone else.

"'Course I mean you!" he barked. "What'reya doin'? You lost?"

"I, I'm..." Jay swallowed, taking a breath. The Cranidos was intimidating, and he felt unbearably nervous. "I'm looking for some Pokemon..."

"We got tons a Pokemon here!" the Cranidos scoffed, making Jay flinch.

"A...A team..." he muttered, glancing down.

"WHAT?" the Cranidos asked loudly, holding a gray claw up to his ear. "Speak up, will ya?"

"Uh..a...a team...They're a team." Jay said, louder this time.

"We got tons a teams!" the dragon barked. "Ya need to be more specific, boy!"

"Um...Dazzletaz." Jay said, trying to repel his intimidation. "Yeah. They're called Dazzletaz."

"Dazzletaz, huh?" the Cranidos repeated, tilting his head. "I've heard of a Dazzletaz before, I think."

"The one with the Delcatty." the Heatmor added in a low yet screech-like voice, speaking up. "And a Flaaffy."

"I saw 'em." the Nidorino rumbled. "They got back from their mission a while ago. I saw 'em headin' over to Storage, from the last of 'em I've seen."

"Storage?" Jay asked, almost weakly.

The Cranidos gave him a funny look. "You new, kid?"

"Uhm..yes." Jay said, unsure what to tell the Rock-Type. Somehow, _"Oh I'm just an amnesiac who's chilling in the Medical Wing"_ didn't seem fitting.

The rock dragon snorted. "Whoever's mentoring you's doin' a lousy job if ya don't even know where the Storage is."

"Y-yeah." Jay could hear the feebleness in his voice.

The Cranidos turned to two sets of stony staircases that descended down that Jay hadn't paid much attention to (He wondered if he hadn't noticed them). He couldn't see where they led. The gray dinosaur Pokemon gestured to the left one with his stubby blue tail.

"Department Room's down there." the Crandios said gruffly. "You should find Storage easily. Ask Soko. He'll remember. Always does."

"Thank you." Jay said with a nod, trotting over to the staircase.

"Team Gruff!" the Cranidos called after him as he began climbing down. "Name's Roark! Remember it!"

The stairs weren't very steep, and not very long, so Jay got through them quite easily. He found himself in a room that felt pretty different from the big one. It was smaller and more narrow, and the walls were made of long wood planks instead of stone. The ground wasn't the curious green moss Jay had liked, but it was a dusty-sort of tan dirt ground that wasn't dusty or dirty in the slightest. It felt perfectly clean, and surprisingly smooth, like sea-weathered stone or glass. It was also more crowded, with all sorts of Pokemon wandering around and talking. Most of them were gathered around the four shop-like areas.

Far to Jay's right was a simple brown booth with a window-like opening in the middle, with a large sign that read **BANK** on the top. A dark blue Meowstic sat perched on a chair, reading through some sort of book while a Meinfoo and Bagon waited patiently. To the right on the wall in front of him, close to the bank, was a bright green booth decorated with colorful zigzag patterns of scarlet and gold. There was no sign for this, but it was the most crowded of the establishments in the room. A green Kecleon behind the booth was in a fevered conversation with a Numel, and several other Pokemon were in a messy line, all chatting and complaining and counting their money. Close to the Kecleon's Booth and almost right in front of Jay was a dark coffee-brown shop (or at least the entrance wall for it) that was accented with bright orange. Above the dark-colored door (the first door Jay had seen since waking up) were the words **Persim Cafe** , spelled out almost elegantly in the same bright orange. As he studied the Cafe, a single Lillipup trotted inside, but other than that he couldn't tell how crowded it was.

To the left of Jay was the front half of a brown half-building - half-booth. _Brown looks like a popular color for these establishments,_ he mused. It had a pale tan-peach desk counter in front of a large, long opening in the middle. A simple **STORAGE** was etched into the top, the words standing out as a very pale dusty color against the plain brown the rest of the half-building was.

 _Storage!_

Yes! He was looking for Storage. The three Pokemon - Team Gruff - had said that he should check for Team Dazzletaz here.

But there were only two Pokemon in front of the Storage, a Dedenne and a scruffy Zigzagoon. No Flaaffy, no Delcatty, no bouncing Petilil.

The Dedenne was talking to a dark brown rodent with a white ring on his belly. Jay watched curiously as the Dedenne plopped a few bright blue orbs onto the desk. The Sentret nodded, grabbed the blue orbs in his arms, and disappeared for a moment. He came back a minute later, the Dedenne and Zigzagoon thanked him, and then they left the Storage, heading over to the empty Bank with the reading Meowstic.

Jay half-limped over to the Storage, feeling the Sentret's gaze as its beady yellow eyes watched him intensely. He stood in front of the rodent in the same place the Dedenne had been and nodded politely at the Racoon-like Pokemon.

"Um, Good Afternoon, sir." Jay said with a tiny nod, trying his best not to be awkward.

The Sentret didn't exactly glare, but his gaze was hard. "I haven't seen _you_ around before."

"I-I'm, uh, I'm new." Jay said, remembering how Roark the Cranidos had asked him if he was new. He had no idea what "new" meant, but it felt like a good excuse.

The Sentret narrowed his eyes the slightest bit. "What's your name?"

"J-Jay"

"Team?"

"Uh…" Jay blinked, unsure how to answer. 'I'm, er, I'm looking for one."

The Sentret gave him a funny look.

"Some Pokemon told me to go to Storage, because that's where they were last seen, and to ask a…a Soko, I think, because…because he would remember. Yeah." Jay could _feel_ the awkwardness. He realized that he wasn't very good at this entire 'talking' thing. "Do…are you Soko?"

"Yes." the Sentret answered. "What team you looking for?"

"They're, they're called Dazzletaz." Jay said, relieved that he hadn't been blabbering cringey nonsense at a random Pokemon.

Soko nodded. "Leader's a Delcatty?"

"Yes." he answered.

"They were here about an hour ago, yeah. Sorry, Jay, not here anymore. Probably went out to the town by now, they got back pretty early."

"T-town?" Jay asked, feeling a bit nervous. "Is that…which hallway leads there?"

Soko looked at him strange again. "The town's far outside the Destiny Base, kid. You don't know that?"

Jay felt his heart sink. He didn't feel like walking all the way to a different town. "No, sir." he said, almost absentmindedly. "Thank you." With that, he turned around and climbed back up into the big stone room with the moss and bulletin boards, feeling disheartened. He stood in the middle of the room for a little bit, unsure what to do.

 _I guess…I just go back into bed?_ Sighing, the Shinx turned around to head back to the Medical Wing.

"…Jay? Is that you?"

Jay turned in surprise at the familiar voice. A surprised-looking Flaaffy was standing in front of the stairs next to the Department Room ones, staring at him.

"Nitzi!" he gasped, the discouragement leaving at once. "Hi! I was looking for you!"

He felt excited to see the grinning pink sheep, though he wasn't sure why. His mind was whirring at the extreme luck of timing.

"What?" she asked, her voice tingling with laughter. "Why? Aren't you healing?"

Violet emerged from the staircase and stood beside Nitzi, holding a small leather bag in her mouth. Lily came up a second later, noticing him at once.

"Hi!" she called. "Oh! Jay woke up!"

"He did?" Violet asked, looking up and turning to look at him. "Oh. That's good."

Jay felt silly half-yelling at them from halfway across the room, so he trotted over to the group.

"Why did you come looking for us?" Nitzi asked, confusion adding to her amused voice. She noticed his bandaged paw. "Should you be walking on that?" she added, the confusion turning into simple concern.

"I wanted to thank you!" he said cheerfully, feeling good about finally finding the trio.

"Why?" Violet asked, cocking her head.

"Well…for saving me." Jay said, shrugging. "I think. I don't really know. Just wanted to say thanks, I guess."

"Well, of course!" Nitzi laughed, her blue wool sparking up a bit when she did. "It's our _job_ to save Pokemon like you! We wouldn't leave you there to just die! That was a dangerous dungeon! We used up a ton of Oran Berries in there."

"I _DIED_ in there!" Lily exclaimed dramatically, jumping up for effect.

"You did not." Violet said, nudging the Grass-Type with her purple tail. "Fainting is not the same as dying."

"I _COULD_ have died in there!" Lily shot back, and the Delcatty dropped it.

"So you're all good?" Nitzi asked, looking excited for him. "Injuries good? Memory good?"

Jay had almost forgotten. "…No." he muttered, his own excitement leaving at the reminder. "I can't remember anything besides the dungeon."

"…Oh." the Flaaffy's gaze turned a bit sad, and Jay could tell that she wasn't sure what to say. He didn't blame her in the slightest.

"But," he added, not wanting to turn the conversation that way. He turned to Lily. "I'm keeping your name, you know."

"Oh! It fits, of course you would!" Lily cheered. "It'd be stupid not to!"

"Does it really fit?" Jay asked, smiling a little. "Dr. Quioli said it fit me, but…"

Nitzi frowned a bit. "Quioli? He let you out even with your paw all bandaged up?"

"Hmm? It's not too bad." he said, raising his paw before putting it down again. "He didn't really, um, tell me I could leave, I guess. I woke up and he told me some stuff and then he just ran out with a Leafeon."

Violet, who had a calm sort of aura around her, twitched her ears. "So he didn't let you out?" she asked, alarm creeping into her voice.

"Well, no." Jay admitted, starting to wonder if he should have stayed inside the boring Medical Wing. He dropped his voice. "I…I shouldn't have come over here, huh?"

"Jay!" Nitzi sounded very alarmed. "Do you know how mad he's going to be!? There's an unspoken rule, you know! _Don't leave the Medical Wing without permission_. And…ah…Jay, you should get back in there before Quioli finds out you left!"

"W-what'll he do to me?" Jay asked, his voice cracking with sudden fear. Everything had been so calm, and he'd been happy that he'd found Team Dazzletaz, but now his mind was bursting with panic.

"Hopefully nothing!" Violet hissed. "But you should get going."

"O-okay!" Jay nodded quickly. He wanted to ask Team Dazzletaz a ton of other stuff, but he decided to take their advice. Not hesitating any longer, he ran across the soft moss, ignoring painful twinges from his injured paw as he rushed through the stone corridor that led into the Medical Wing.

The Shinx burst into the narrow pink room, leaping and scrambling onto his bed, praying that he wouldn't get into trouble or that Nitzi had been exaggerating or-

"Jay!"

Jay tensed for a second before looking up. The once-smiling Ampharos was glaring, looking angry, just like Nitzi had predicted.

Well. There was no way to pretend he had never left. Dr. Quioli had watched him run into the Wing himself.

...Great.


	3. The Rider of Heads

**This chapter was formerly written during December, January, and February, published in late February after painful writers block and dissatisfaction on it. The chapter flopped, and I hated it, and after some discussion with friends I decided to _completely_ rewrite and rework it. If you already left a review on the previous chapter, I urge you to leave a guest review, or maybe a PM. I'm really happy with the chapter right now, I think it's really improved from its current state.**

 **I've also given Shattered Destiny an updating schedule! It will update on the 12th and the 24th of each month. I plan to keep it this way for as long as I can, and may make it 3 times a month if I build up a big enough buffer.**

 **That's all the news I've got! Onwards to non-bolded text!**

* * *

The air was impossibly still for a tense, dread-filled moment as Jay cowered on his bed, not daring to move or even act out his instinct to unsheathe his claws.

" _Jay,_ " Dr. Quioli said slowly, his voice definitely not happy. A blur of red swung back and forth as he lashed his tail with obvious annoyance, or maybe anger. Jay's eyes dropped down to the swishing orb;he couldn't look the Ampharos in the eyes.

The silence continued to grow, faster than weeds. Awkwardness began to creep into the room, giving Jay the uncontrollable urge to shift or look up or just do something.

The proper word to describe how he felt was... _uncomfortable._ He finally swallowed and raised his head a bit.

"...Yes?"

" _'Yes'_?" Quioli snapped, a bit harsher than Jay was prepared for. He flinched, his eyes jumping up to the Ampharos's angry face. " _Jay,_ do you know what you've done today?"

There was a number of things he'd done today, but he knew the one Dr. Quioli was looking for. "..Yes."

"Oh!?" Dr. Quioli's tail lashed harder, banging against the row of cabinets. Jay hadn't known it was possible for him to look so upset. " _Yes!?_ Would you care to tell me what that is?"

Jay nearly said "yes" again, and had to catch himself. "I, um...I left."

" _Where_ did you leave?" Quioli asked suspiciously, making Jay gulp under his breath. There was a **_bnck-bnck_** as his tail continued to swing into the cabinets, and one of the doors swung open violently.

Jay swallowed, feeling a stammer starting up in his chest. "I-I-I..I left...t-the room? The...Th-the Medical Wing?"

Quioli's tail slammed the cabinet door back and forth with an annoyingly repetitive **_BNKG-BNKG_ ** sound. Jay twitched his ears lower, the banging sound starting to make its way into his head.

"Not only that," Dr. Quioli said, his voice straining with impatience. "Not only that, but you _left your bed!_ "

Jay frowned, confused. "I...w-what?"

"You _left your bed_!" Quioli repeated, his voice stronger and more irritated. He let out a puff of constrained breath. "When signed into the Medical Wing, a patient _may not_ , _MAY NOT_ , leave their bed or assigned resting area without permission from one of the five Medical Wing healers. _Did you know this?_ _"_

"N-No!" Jay shouted, trembling and shaking his head. "I didn't! We just kind of talked and then you left and I got bored and-"

"That's no excuse," the Ampharos snapped quickly, making him shrink. "Jay, rules must be _respected_ , boredom or not! Healing is _very important_ _. Rules_ are _very important_. You have committed many violations, all to things that are _very importa-_ "

"Alright, Quioli, you can shut up now. I think he gets it."

Dr. Quioli snapped his mouth shut and spun around to see where the voice came from, his tail finally pushing the cupboard door into place. Jay quickly shifted to face it as well, surprised to see the familiar trio strolling in.

Nitzi half-leaned against the doorway, closely followed by an unjustifiably bouncy Petilil. Trailing behind them was Violet, looking noticeably unenthusiastic and tired.

Dr. Quioli swallowed several times, looking more frustrated with the comment than he had with Jay in the first place. "E-Exc _use_ me?" he snapped, his voice hinted with offended stammering.

Nitzi shrugged coolly, obviously hiding an amused grin. Being in the middle of the Ampharos evolution chain as opposed to the fully-evolved Dr. Quioli, she was shorter and fluffier, both her ears and the bright blue orb on her tail bigger. Still, she looked up at him with well-mastered (though likely faked) indifference. "You made your point, is all I'm saying. He'll be more careful if he ever wounds back in here again."

"Oh...err..." Dr. Quioli swallowed, trying to compose his sentence. Jay guessed he wasn't used to being treated with the half-sarcastic tone the Flaaffy was using. It was actually pretty hilarious, seeing the confused doctor trying to come up with a response.

He didn't even know why Nitzi was acting like this. Lily, while not springing herself into the sky, was quietly bouncing on her stubby leaves, not even hiding her fat grin. Violet was sulking notably farther behind them, her ears and tail drooped in the most unapproving way possible.

...Huh. Jay shifted, unsure where this conversation would be going. Should he say something.

"Well," Nitzi said, tipping her head after a few moments had gone by. "I suppose you don't have an answer. So. That's great. I'm just going to pick up my package and take it home now."

"Package?" Dr. Quioli said in confusion, simultaneous to Jay thinking it. The Ampharos shook his head, looking around. "I-I don't think I got any orders from your team..."

"Nonsense," Nitzi said, suddenly moving in Jay's direction. He frowned and cocked his head, realizing that she _was_ moving deliberately towards him. "Look, my package is sitting right here, on this very bed. What are the odds?"

Jay half stood up, feeling a mixture between utter confusion and being part of some inside joke he didn't understand. "What?"

"What?" Quioli echoed, furrowing his eyebrows. Lily let out an ominously gleeful snicker and Violet sighed disapointedly.

Without saying a word or even really looking at him, Nitzi casually picked Jay up and plopped him on her head.

Panic flared through him and he tightened all his limbs immediately, wobbling horribly and nearly falling off. Fluffy blue wool bunched between his paws and chest, blanket-soft, but also feeling supercharged with something electric.

 _Well. ELECTRICITY. Duh. _

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Quioli cried, horrified. Jay felt a flash of guilt for the doctor, who was probably going through a panicked monologue about broken rules in his head, but he was mostly trying not to laugh from the strangeness of the situation and plummet to the ground.

"Um. Package self-delivery." Nitzi gestured up at at Jay, who was trying to lift his back legs onto her head awkwardly while biting his cheek with a grip of steel.

"Objection," he called dizzily, dazed by the fact that he was _sitting on somebody's head_. "Why am I a package? Is that good?"

"You are _not_ a package!" Dr. Quioli said, his former annoyance for the Shinx replaced by confused horror. "You are a patient!"

"Yeeeaaah, about that." Nitzi shrugged, making Jay lurch and grip onto her tighter, all his limbs tucked as close as possible to his body. He felt dangerously close to flopping over and dying. "I'm sparing your patient for whatever 30 weeks of boredom I know you will put him through, because he is quite innocent and I'd feel bad, so I'd highly appreciate it if you signed him out. Bye." She waved, turned, and started walking down the corridor.

"Bye!" Lily called happily, twirling to follow them.

"W-Wait-! Y-You can't do that!" Eyes wide with panic, Dr. Quioli began awkwardly stumbling around the Medical Wing, taking quick paces towards the exiting Team Dazzletaz and then swinging around to grab a clipboard and then dropping it and repeating a frenzy of undecided actions.

"Relax, Quioli, he'll be fine." Nitzi patted Jay on the head, and he wondered if that made it harder for her to walk. He buried his elbows deeper into the fluffy mane of blue. "I'll bring him back later and you can do your mumbo-jumbo medicine magic on him at night."

"Wha - B-b-but he needs medical assistance NOW! As his doctor and as his role as my patient I demand that he stays here until he is one-hundred-percent healed!"

"We'll take good care of him," Violet said, her voice unhappy and guilty. "He doesn't even need to walk. Apparently. I honestly didn't know she was going to give him a ride on her head but, whatever, it works better than him sitting in bed all day."

"He NEEDS bedrest!" Dr. Quioli shouted, his voice becoming more distant as they got farther through the corridor. Jay tried twisting his position to see the Medical Wing more clearly and nearly fell off Nitzi's head.

"Don't worry, Vi's pretty good at negotiating." The Flaaffy reached the big moss-floored room and stopped, looking up to make sure her new hat hadn't fallen off. She looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"THAT WAS _GREAT!_ " Lily screamed, launching herself through the air. "Did you see his FACE? We _have_ to do that again! Let's do it again!"

Nitzi snorted, backing up against a wall to lean on. Jay wondered worriedly if he was too heavy. "Sh-should I get off?"

"Nah, you're fine. Maybe curl up your tail a little more, that thing's sharp and it's whacking my shoulder."

Violet sulked into the room at that moment, looking even more unenthusiastic. She glanced at the her teammates, who were laughing hysterically in a decently empty room.

"Get that pout off your face," Nitiz said, her voice still thick with lightheartedness. "It doesn't look good on you."

"What'd he say?!" Lily demanded, bouncing excitedly. Her grin widened. "Did you win?"

Violet sat down, eyeing Nitzi with disapproval. "You can say that."

"YOU WON!" Lily cried, bursting into another fit of laughter. Nitzi chuckled happily.

Jay was starting to get a little too confused. "Wait," he said, frowning. "Why are we laughing? Who won? Why am I sitting on your head?"

Nitzi eyed him, her eyes gleaming with infectious amusement. "You like it up there?"

"Wh - yeah, it's...it's fine..."

"Then _stay_ ," she said, tousling the fur on his head. Was there something wrong with his hair? He pushed his eyeballs up as far as they would go, lifting his unbandaged paw to smooth out the pale blue tufts.

"I can't believe you put him on your head." Violet said, her tepid voice not changing. "You just. Picked him up. And plopped him on. Without even asking him."

Lily nodded vigorously. "IT WAS GREAT!"

Nitzi shrugged, still chuckling at the scene. She put her flipper-paws on her chest and head and struck a ridiculous pose. "The Shinx Hat is in season, Vi." she grinned, gesturing at her head where Jay clung on nervously. "You should really grab one while you can, they're flying off the shelves."

Jay had a rather disturbing mental image of being flung through the air like some sort of frisbee.

Violet snorted, suppressing a smile as her eyes lit up. "Oh my god."

"Hang on, hang on," Jay murmured, shifting again to avoid falling off. "I don't think...that...was that legal?"

"No."

"...Oh."

"Don't worry, Jay," Nitzi laughed, patting his head again. He tucked in his chin to avoid wobbling too much. "We might get _unfortunately_ a very stern _educational lecture_ from that old ram about the rules, but I mean, at the same time, I don't really care."

"What Nitzi is _trying_ to say," Violet interrupted, standing up and waving her tail, "Is that she has completed her good deed of the day by saving you from a horrible, horrible fate. So you should thank her. Maybe Lily. Not me."

Jay scrambled on his elbows to turn to her, unsuprised to see her ears flicking in annoyance. "..Why not you?"

"Because Vi's a stick in the mud." Nitzi retorted, leaning back against the wall. Lily giggled mischievously, obviously agreeing.

" _No,_ " the Delcatty sighed, before Jay could ask Nitzi to explain. "A leader is supposed to be the _responsible one_. Thank God you're not leader."

"Wait, Wait, Wait-" Jay swallowed and sucked in breath, feeling his paws brush against the blue fluff. He crouched back, putting the weight on is haunches and feeling himself wobble dangerously, before springing off of his formerly resident head spot. The fall was much less graceful than he intended it to be, and crashed into the (thankfully, soft) springy green moss headfirst, rolling forwards once before finally sliding onto his belly. There was a moment of the adrenaline fading away as he lay there, dumbfounded with confusion, before a white-hot pain suddenly blazed through his nose, promptly followed by the taste of blood.

"SHIT, Jay-" Nitzi exploded into laughter, both louder and more breathless than before. Jay groaned and staggered up, feeling heat flare and drip from his nose.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa," he groaned again, blearily wiping blood off his face with his paw. His nose felt raw and swollen and too hot to _not_ be on fire.

Jay turned back to Team Dazzletaz to see Violet furiously whack the snickering Flaaffy with her tail. "YOU _IDIOT_!" she snapped, her claws visibly unsheathing. "IT'S BEEN FIVE MINUTES AND YOU ALREADY BROKE HIS NOSE!"

"It's not broken," Jay mumbled dizzily, sniffing and touching said nose. _OW. Maybe a little broken..._

"Hah, now Vi's gonna be snappy at her for _weeks_." Lily singsonged, bouncing over. Jay found himself unhappy with the fact that she was taller than her, if only barely. He wiped his nose again and glanced down at the raised paw, now covered in smears of wet scarlet. A memory of seeing his other paw, mangled and twisted and sickening shades of crimson, flashed back into his mind, and he shivered uncomfortably.

"Is that good?" he asked distractedly, pushing away the bad memory. Nitzi was audibly defending herself, saying that it wasn't her decision that he wanted to jump off ( _Which is true,_ he thought guiltily)

"Not for us," she sighed, shaking her head. Her eyes still glinted with enough mischief to make Jay wary about the Grass-Type, and he shuffled back again.

His paws squished against a spot of moist moss, and he looked down in surprise. "Oh-oh shoot-" he gasped, quickly wiping his bleeding nose again. He scratched at the moss, trying to get the spots of blood out, but they stayed resiliently. Guilt continuing to wash over him, he glanced at Lily.

Lily caught his eye and made a shrugging motion. "What? You know the moss rewashes itself like every second or something, right?"

"It does?" he asked, fascinated. He remembered earlier, when he'd first discovered the peculiar carpet of green. It was undoubtedly real moss, but it seemed so different than the regular kind.

 _I've never even_ felt _the regular kind,_ he mused, a strange weirdness piercing him again. _Or maybe I have, but I just can't remember it._

Arceus, he hated this.

"Course." Lily, suddenly impatient, began meandering across the room. Jay followed her, flustered, pricking her ears as she elaborated. "Deiko's weird ghostly magic junk. Who knows, he did his special tricks on it and now we have cool enchanted moss."

 _Enchanted moss._ "L-like magic?"

"Like _ghhoOOOsssTTTllyyyy_ magic," she said, doing something weird with her voice. Jay glanced at the 'ghostly' moss nervously, half expecting it to burst into creepy purple flame. He was very relieved when it didn't.

An Unfezant swooped into the room, his long red ribbons trailing through the air like a second pair of wings. Jay watched him flutter through the air gracefully, his elegantly patterned wings barely flapping as he soared down one of the two staircases, the one that led to the crazy-packed room.

How could so many different Pokemon all live here? Jay shook his head, wiping away the (hopefully last) drops of blood. Another addition to his ever-growing list of questions.

"Deiko's the leader of the Destiny Base, in case you're wondering." Lily said unexpectedly. Jay turned, but didn't speak, hoping for more elaboration. Unfortunately, he didn't get any, and Lily simply watched as another bird, this time a Pidgeotto, flew into the room and perched onto one of the bulletin boards.

"HEY NERDS," Nitzi called loudly, making the little Shinx jump in surprise. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"STOP SHOUTING!" Lily screamed back.

Violet padded up to them, tilting her head. "Your nose stopped bleeding," she acknowledged, looking pleased about that. "Does it still hurt."

Jay shrugged, feeling guilty again. "Sort of. It's my fault, though. Don't blame Nitzi, really."

"Oh, I _will,_ " Violet hissed, glancing at the Flaaffy, who immediately caught her eye and sprinted over.

"Are you _gossiping_ about _me?_ " she gasped, a flipper-paw over her heart. Violet rolled her eyes.

"No," Lily grinned. "Just about moss. Jay here likes moss."

"Oh? Well, he'll like grass, too. Let's take him outside."

" _NO,"_ Violet interrupted, glaring. "NO putting him on your head. If Quioli caught us he'd kick us out of the base in a minute."

"Quioli has _no power_ ," Nitzi said, dropping to all fours (something Jay hadn't seen her do, he noticed) and trotting towards another corridor, this one seemingly made of yellow tarp. The three followed her, Jay getting excited as he smelled fresh air.

Fresh air! It occurred to him that he had no memories of being outside. He picked up his pace and immediately felt pain shooting through his injured paw.

"Quioli really can't do anything?" he asked, going back to his awkward half-limp from before. Nitzi snorted.

"He calls himself 'head doctor', but that just means he gets to complain the most to Deiko. God knows Deiko hates it." she snickered, her eyes orange in the yellow light of the tarp above.

Everything looked orange and yellow in the lighting of the tent, though. The entire passageway was made like a long, cozy hot tent, the floor a plain brown earth below their feet. Jay's fur looked almost _green_ , which he found absurdly funny for some reason. _What if I was a Grass-Type instead of Electric? It certainly looks like it in here._

"Who is Deiko?" Jay asked, hoping he sounded casual. The tan dirt scratched beneath his pads, oddly comforting. Despite the weird lighting, he liked the tent-hallway thing.

"Leader of the Destiny Base," Nitzi said plainly, stopping and standing upright again. The passageway curved into a wide circle now, the only non-tent material around them being a doorway of sorts of vines, not even filtering out the white sunlight flashing through them. _The entrance._ Or exit. He wondered how they weren't burnt by now, since he'd seen Fire-Types in the Destiny Base, but then he realized that they were probably enchanted by this Deiko fellow, too.

"But what even is the Destiny Base?" he asked, frowning. "I don't even know after all this time."

Nitzi laughed. "You've only been conscious for, like, 5 hours at the very max. Not 5 years." She pushed her way through the dark green vines, and more white sunlight flashed into Jay's eyes. He closed them quickly, seeing waves of purple-red dancing behind his eyelids.

When he opened them a few seconds later, Team Dazzletaz was outside. Flustered, he scrambled outside, excitement leaping through his chest.

A faint breeze ruffled his fur as he leapt through the vines, fresh air immediately filling his nose. It was shockingly refreshing, and he grinned, the grin becoming a wide smile when his paw pads brushed grass. _Grass!_ It was almost as soft as the moss, but kind of scratchy but still really really nice.

The hill of grass surrounded the four of them, along with the bright yellow tent that was ruffling with the breeze. Random weeds and flowers dotted the slope, but most of it was just green, green grass everywhere. Surrounding the hills was a sky bluer than Jay's very fur, dotted with clouds fluffier than the wool in Nitzi's head. But the main thing that caught his eye was the small, multicolored buildings resting at the bottom of the hill's slope, and the thousands of specs that indicated tons of Pokemon hanging around them.

"Is that a town?" he asked excitedly, his tail waving through the air. He could already see the outlines of shops, restaurants, kiosks, and salespeople lining the streets.

"City, more like it." Nitzi said. "Sepia's the, what, 3rd biggest city in the region?"

"Fifth," Violet corrected, twitching her ears. "Lively Town's the biggest, and it's guild probably is too. Lotus is second and Emerald is third. I'm pretty sure Cobblestone is fourth, but I might need to check again."

"What about Treasure Town?" Lily interjected, tilting her head.

"Treasure Town is probably a nine or maybe even a ten. It's really not so big, not close to Lively or Emerald."

"Treasure Town is _huge_ ," the Petilil insisted, her brow furrowing. "Plus, you told me about how it grew after the Explorers trilogy! It got _super_ big, didn't it?"

"Wigglytuff's Guild isn't really that good," Nitzi said, shrugging. "Like, it's pretty small compared to the big-city ones. Nothing close to the Destiny Base."

"Is the Destiny Base a guild?" Jay asked. He had a small idea of what guilds were. Were they like schools? There seemed to be a lot of them. It would make sense if the large building behind him was a guild.

Nitzi shrugged, dusting her flippers. "Sorta? It's more of a hub thingie. You don't really learn, you just get your room and then you have all the shops and missions and other teams at your fingertips. Way more efficient than setting up your own base. Way more expensive."

Lily, apparently bored again, began hopping down the hill. Violet followed her, chuckling. "This place is nothing compared to the Hycanith Guild. At least we can afford eating.

"Yes, eating." Lily agreed, continuing to slide down. "Let's go, let's go."

"What kind of hub is it?" Jay asked, jumping down the hill as well. His paws ran through the soft grass, dried from the sun, but still cool against his pads. "Is it for teams like you guys?"

"Exactly!" Nitzi said, grinning. "It's a hub for Dungeon Teams - it gives us resources and a good location. You know what Dungeon Teams are?"

"They...have to do with dungeons?"

Nitzi laughed. "They're teams who go through Mystery Dungeons - these crazy maze places with crazy Pokemon -you know that place you were in? That was a dungeon we were going through. Anyways, teams like us usually go through them and rescue Pokemon stuck in them. They're pretty dangerous, but at the same time, it's a really great job. A long time ago there only used to be Rescue Teams, but now there are Exploration Teams and Outlaw-Chasers too. I dunno, it's a pretty fun thing to be. I like it."

"What kind of team are you guys?" he asked curiously, twitching his tail at the information.

The Flaaffy put her flippers on her hips and looked up proudly. "Rescue," she grinned.

"Rescue's the best," Violet added. "Like, Outlaw-Chasing is fun, and Exploring has gotten insanely popular over the past few years, but I think Rescuers are the job Dungeon Teams really need to be."

The job certainly sounded impressive. Jay's ears flicked back as he remembered the scary stone labyrinth, the way the crisscrossing walls seemed to press against him, sliding under the blood. It was nice to know that nobody would have to be stuck down there, scrabbling and helpless and alone, because the Rescue Teams were out there.

I _don't want anyone to be like that,_ Jay thought uncomfortably. _Being so confused and scared...I would never wish that on any Pokemon._

The slated hill flattened suddenly, as if a giant Regigigas had kneeled down and patted the ends of the slope with its huge hands. The material, too, suddenly changed, becoming a hard and pebbly brown dirt, which visibly turned into pavement a few steps later.

"That's enough crash course for today," Nitzi said, coming up next to him. "Welcome to Sepia City, bud. Let's go find something to eat for lunch now."

"Lunch?" Jay perked up immediately, the idea tantalizing. Nitzi and Violet bounded in front of him, Lily already halfway down the block.

Jay blinked and took a hesitive step onto the pavement, the full force of the city seeming to explode into his heart when he did. This was a _city,_ an endless scape of Pokemon and buildings and facilities of all sorts, each one more different for the last. Jay took another step, then another, and began to trot quickly, making sure to keep the waving orb-tipped tail in his sight. A large Ursaring sporting a yellow cap sauntered down the street, holding a burly tray of similar multicolored hats in his arms. A pink-petaled Comfey drifted along tiredly, her two small children attached to her ring of flowers with their own.

As Jay walked, increasing his speed, the buildings began to increase in size, becoming facier and more diverse, more colorful and expressive. They all felt very tall, though some seemed to be attempting to scrape the sky and others could barely fit a slithering Onix. They varied in colors, too, a bright teal shop looking sharp and shiny compared to an elegant, deep oak Clock Repair store.

How many stores were they? Jay's head began to spin as the wonderful colors and sights began to blur in his mind. His offhanded glances at the signs became a feverish reading, trying to list how many there were. Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bakeries, Palm-Readings, Libraries, Restaurants, Flower Shop - everything seemed to pop, everything so bizzarely clashing and yet fitting together perfectly, giving the city a sense of balanced, working harmony.

A Farfetch'd shoved Jay aside furiously, knocking the Shinx backwards into a hissing Arbok. Jay jumped to the side, realizing that he hadn't even taken note of all the Pokemon he'd been walking alongside. He watched with his ever-growing curiosity as a Zebstrika cantered across the street, calling out something about free cooking classes. He was immediately hyperaware of the mob of Pokemon surrounding him, whacking their tails and twitching their ears and flapping their wings.

Unsure what to do, Jay ran onto a random street, starting to sprint with uncontained excitement. Everything was so new and interesting! His paw twinged with sudden pain and he slowed down, deciding that trotting would do for now. Anyways, he could see everything better if he took it all in slowly.

There was so much to take in! Jay's mind became a fascinated cloud of colors and words as he walked through the streets, feeling his eyes growing with wonder at each new block. He found himself forgetting about everything, focusing on the wonderful feeling of moving through the streets, walking and walking until both his paws were aching with soreness.

Jay stopped, faintly surprised, as he hadn't been walking for very long. Still, his paws refused to continue on the walk, and he sighed, looking up.

"Wow!" he gasped suddenly, taking a quick step back. The sky, still a radiant cyan, was starting to tint with beams of orange. While it wasn't sunset yet, the sun was much lower in the sky, casting shadows over the streets that he hadn't noticed before.

It had probably been more than a few minutes. ...A few hours?

 _That's not good,_ Jay realized, guilt swallowing at him. He turned in a full circle, not recognizing anything. He was lost, utterly lost. _Hmm, this is really not good. I should probably get back to Nitzi and the others..._

Jay bit his lip, looked in the direction he'd been walking in, and leapt down the opposite street.

Even if the sun was sinking, the crowds refused to thin, pushing and gambling for space. Jay squeezed between an arguing Heliolisk and Houndoom, thankful for his small size and squishy feline structure.

Had he missed their Lunch? He wouldn't be surprised if he had, he thought sadly. That was disappointing. He'd been excited to eat something.

He still was. Jay continued to slide and sift through the crowds, nervousness starting to trickle under his skin. He was angry at himself at missing the meal. Why did he have to get distracted so easily?

The narrow street suddenly opened up into what seemed to be a small plaza, circular, with many other paths spreading out from it. A few kiosks were spread around the area, the shopkeepers of them busily advertising their merchandise to passing pedestrians. A thin pole stood near some of the buildings, something flat attached to it-

It was a map.

"A map!" Jay gasped, shrinking a moment later when he realized he'd spoken aloud. Nobody even turned to look at him. He doubted anyone had even noticed him all day.

The Shinx jumped across the plaza, pleased to finally have directions. He pressed his front paw against the wood pole, looking up at the large, thick plastic board with his answers.

Unfortunately, the map was a huge disapointment. It was so crowded with colors, squiggles, lines, and endless captions that he couldn't make heads or tails of it. It might as well have been somebody scribbling on a paper, which was what it looked like. No big, bright red arrows with a "Dazzletaz is here" written in big block letters. The map was utterly useless to him.

Disgruntled, Jay dropped down and turned to go down another random street. However, padding across the tiny square, his eye caught on a bright yellow kiosk with an assortment of strangely colored berries.

Jay slowed his pace to study the kiosk, his eye catching on the apparent owner of it, a very fluffy brown Bibarel, who was in a heavy conversation with a Hippopotas. There were more customers besides the tiny hippo, though, a long-bladed Fomantis and a slender Roserade. The Roserade was already walking away from the kiosk, a small paper bag hung over her blue flower. As Jay watched, the Fomantis plucked some dark red berries out of the pile they were in, dropped a flash of something gold and shiny near the Bibarel, and walked away as well.

Was this like a restaurant of some sorts? Jay crept closer, interested. Neither the Normal or Ground-Type noticed him, and he bounded over to a crate of peculiar-looking berries, a soft yellow with vivid purple spots all over them. He sniffed at them, surprised at the sweet sourness in their scent.

His head flicked back to the Fomantis, the way it had simply taken the berries. Were these just..up for grabs? Could he just take them?

Hesitantly, Jay lowered his head and seized one of the spotted berries in his jaws. The smooth skin was recognizable to his tongue…these were Sitrus Berries. Jay turned the Sitrus over in his mouth before crunching down, his mouth immediately filling with the overwhelming, delicious taste of sour-sweet Sitrus juice.

Jay chewed once before swallowing, his mouth singing with joy from the taste. The berry's juice on his tongue had felt like a small awakening, a small bit of nostalgia returning. He decided that he really, really liked the strange fruit.

Was it possible…would these Sitrus Berries be good for a meal? Tempted to eat another, Jay placed a paw on the pile of berries. Maybe he could take these to Team Dazzletaz…they were tasty, and they might work as an apology, a "hey-I-know-I-lost-you-guys-for-like-two-hours-but-eat-these-cool-berries-they're-super-good" kind of thing.

Jay hesitated again, his tail wavering through the air as the plaza murmured quietly, the Bibarel shopkeeper remarking something about Orans. The Shinx straightened decisively, making a decision, and his paw scooped up a few berries that would make a mouthful.

Too late, a question occurred - how would he hold them? He needed all four paws to walk, and his tail could not hold the berries like an Aipom's. Should he put them in his mouth? Wasn't that…kind of really gross and disgusting?

Jay dipped his head to snatch a mouthful of berries anyways, figuring he could eat them himself. He felt his cheeks puffing out with all the Sitrus Berries shoved against them and stifled a giggle, since he might drop the berries.

"AI! DROP THOSE, THIEF!"

Jay started, the berries in his paw thudding to the ground. One of them rolled behind him, and his back foot squashed it with an unpleasant _Squirshk!_ sound.

Something brown and furry slammed into him, shrieking with outrage. Jay bit down hard on the berries in his mouth, the juice overflowing his taste buds as two sharp brown paws held his chest down.

" _Why were you stealing my produce?"_ the Bibarel hissed, his teeth bared. " _You're gonna_ pay _for those, STREETCAT!"_

Jay squeaked in response, swallowing the mouthful of berries hard. The beaver's claws dug harder into his fur, and he jolted into a ball, feeling something shoot through his fur.

The Bibarel screamed, releasing him immediately. Jay jumped up, his paw protesting painfully when he landed hard on his feet. The Normal-Type's fur was all stuck up, somewhat tinged with black. Was that... _static_ coursing through the prickled fur?

 _He's Water-Type, too._

 _You ELECTROCUTED him._

"Criminal!" a young voice howled, probably the Hippodon, who was scattering away. The Bibarel turned his beady eyes on Jay, scowling and twitching.

"Think you could steal my produce so easily?" the Bibarel growled, dropping to all fours. Jay shrunk back, his brow furrowing. _Was I stealing?_

"I didn't mean-" Jay's cry was cut off as the Bibarel lunged for him, slapping him with his tail and sitting on him harshly. Jay gasped, the air being knocked out of him as his body hit the ground. Pain shot up his temple, and the electricity coursed through him again.

"Don't think you can get away with a simple Thunder Shock, _Shinx_ ," the Bibarel snapped, a hint of wariness in his angry voice. "It just worsens your situation. You're not going _anywhere._ I'm quite heavy, I'll have you know!"

 _Yes, you are._ Jay squirmed under the beaver's weight, gasping for air. He was promptly smacked by a flat black tail, and fell still after a grumble.

Jay closed his eyes, scowling, and what felt like a moment later something hot seized around his tail. Jay gasped, the weight of the Bibarel suddenly sliding off as he was lifted in the air by a pair of strong, fire-warm jaws.

"He's quite puny for a culprit," the jaws mumbled through his tail. Jay squeaked in protest, and the jaws shook him roughly.

"He was _stealing my merchandise!_ " the Bibarel insisted. "Stole my Sitrus Berries - a quarter of the supplies! That's over a thousand Poke in produce he wasted, he ate, he stole!"

"Settle down, beaver." Jay's gasp caught in his throat as he was flung gracefully into the air, caught again by the warm fangs, this time hanging from the scruff of his neck. Jay looked up, horrified to see a fully-grown _Arcanine_ that was holding him in her very jaws. Her fur was sleek, a dark persimmon with impossibly black stripes zigzagging her body. His tail brushed against the mane of brown on her chest, and her yellow eyes flicked down at him sternly. He decided to be quiet.

"Will you take him away?" the Bibarel asked greedily. "Question him? Make him pay?"

"The former two," the Arcanine said dully, sounding quite bored, as if he were just another petty thief (he was, very petty, but was he a criminal now?) that would be sent off with a simple tax. "Make him pay, perhaps - he'll be given a trial, not a very long one, though. It's just berries."

Jay struggled weakly, not bothering to try getting away. He looked down the street, frowning and curling in on himself.

There was no chance of getting his lunch now.

* * *

 **the idiot had to get himself arrested gg jay**

 **I got rid of the ugly info dumps! It's now just fun hijinks and banter, everything here was supposed to happen in chapters 5-6 but by eliminating the Medical Wing I got to them sooner. Dazzletaz will be playing a somewhat large role in the story, even when I get to our partner. I like writing them, I plan on doing a one-shot of them before SD in the future.**


	4. An Enigma

Jay jolted upward as he was thrown harshly onto a floor of cool stone, the side of his head bursting in pain at the impact.

"Ah!" he gasped, scrambling up and pressing his uninjured paw to his temple. He looked up quickly, the bruise throbbing under his pad.

The Arcanine stared down at him, her yellow eyes lidded and bored. "Alright, erm, _thief_." she said dutifully, not even bothering to sound threatening. "Your crime was...well, petty, to say the least, so you won't be given a trial. Obviously. We've got outlaws to take care of for that. So you'll probably have a questioning with some other officers in a few hours or something, once the case with the Toxapex ends. Whenever that might be."

Jay blinked at her, not understanding a word.

"So," she continued after a moment, taking a step forwards. "I'll have to take you to a cell now. Okay. Let's go. C'mon."

She nudged him forwards with one of her huge orange paws, and he stumbled, still feeling frozen. With a grunt, the Arcanine swooped him into the air by the scruff of his neck, and carried him into a thin white hallway.

"Wait-" Jay said, thrashing in the grip of the Arcanine's jaws. He tried twisting himself back onto the floor (he was confident he'd land on his feet if she dropped him) but instead ended up making his tail lash against his face, the sharp yellow star poking the bruise on his head.

The orange dog only tightened her grip as Jay hissed in pain, trying to reach his paw up to massage the smarting bruise again. He huffed, feeling stuck, and stared at the blank white walls passing by.

The corridor was narrow, more narrow that the one leading out of the Medical Wing, and Jay was surprised how easily the gigantic canine was able to slide through it. It was almost as if she'd spent her whole life slinking in and out of the thin hall.

 _She probably has_ , he thought, swishing his tail. _She's - this is a Police Department, isn't it? She must be a police officer._

 _That's right - she's taking me to a cell._

 _I'm a criminal now._

Jay's thought process was promptly interrupted by a fierce shaking of steel bars, making his head swivel towards the noise. A sneasel, its sharp claws seized around two metal poles, was jerking the bars of his prison cell back and forth.

 _Prison cell!_

The left side of the wall quickly gave way to lines and lines of cells, each set next to each other, so that it looked like a long gate of steel bars at first glance. However, as the Arcanine walked, Pokemon inside the cells threw themselves at the bars, shaking them furiously and sticking their heads and ears and claws out. One or two tried swiping at the Arcanine, but she swerved away with graceful ease, barely noticing.

Jay accidentally caught the eye of a hissing Arbok, who immediately sprung at them with unhinged fangs. Jay yelped, but his carrier didn't even flinch as the purple cobra gnashed against the bars.

"A-a-are those things strong-?" Jay stammered, watching the bars jolt and tremble as the snake's bullet-thin snout shoved through them. He curled his body towards the walled side of the corridor, the plain white looking much more appealing all of a sudden.

The Arcanine, almost unsurprisingly, snorted. "They've held up for years. I'm sure they can take a puny little Shinx cub."

"Shinx - oh. I'm going to be in one of those." Looking at the other Pokemon, Jay had forgotten that he was going to be in their same position, staring through the bars. He'd mostly been terrified of one of them breaking out and leaping at him.

"Yyyyyup." Without warning, the Arcanine kicked open the bars of an empty cell and flung him in. He crashed onto the ground, a little more harshly than necessary, he thought.

"Ahk-WAIT-" Jay stumbled up so quickly he tripped over himself, and the Arcanine swung the bars shut again. It had been so fast that he wasn't even sure how it worked.

"Wait!" he gasped, running to the bars. He shoved his paws inbetween them, looking up pleadingly at the huge canine. "I-I'm not a criminal! I was just hungry! I wanted to get some lunch for my friends, seriously! I didn't even know I was breaking any rules. I thought - I saw people taking things from that stand and I thought it was okay to take stuff, too."

The Arcanine's ears flattened tiredly. "Look, kid," she said, her mouth twitching away from a scowl. "You're probably the youngest pup we've had to throw in here. You didn't really do anything, but we're too busy to question you or assign your tax right now, so we're just shoving you in here till we can. You'll be out by the end of the day, no problem. You'll be able to run back home without missing dinner."

"Dinner - I can't eat dinner," Jay insisted. "I've already missed lunch. I was going to take those berries to Team Daz - well, a team I know."

"Dungeon Team?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "That's even more shocking. I thought you _Rescuers_ and _Outlaw Chasers_ and whatever new job you've come up with were above thievery. Well, that helps things, at least - we can alert the Destiny Base of your, um, situation. What's your team?"

"Team?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Oh - uh, I'm not really...part of a team? I just kinda … know one. Yeah. I'm not part of the Destiny Base or anything. I might be. Sometime. Not now. At this moment."

The Arcanine turned away with a huff, her puffy yellow tail swishing through the air. "Well, unlucky for you, I don't have the time to care. You can explain this to someone else later. Just...sit there. You might get an Oran chucked at you in an hour or something…" Not even waiting to finish her sentence, the Arcanine trotted back down the hall, paying even less attention to the screeching Pokemon inside the cells than before.

"Oh - Oh wait WAIT!" Jay clawed at the bars, but they were, indeed, quite strong. He wasn't very scared of the Arboks or Sneasels coming to rip him up anymore.

That meant, of course, he couldn't get out, either.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Jay groaned, throwing himself down onto the floor. It was cold and smooth, just like _every other cursed stone surface in this world_. He rolled against it, bumping against a stone wall and groaning again.

The room was pretty small, so that it wouldn't fit a Dragonair if it wasn't coiled up, every wall _stupid stone gray_ besides the side with the bars. There was no light at all, so that straight, thin shadows groped across his body like rows of trees. He looked through the shadows at his paws, first the plain one, then the injured one.

That bandage was really getting on his nerves. Not even caring about Dr. Quioli's instructions, he fit his teeth around some of the gauze and tried ripping it away, only to find that it was wrapped around so tightly it wouldn't even give. Scraping at it with his claws didn't work, either, and only left him with tiny scratches on the skin near the edges of the bandage.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAa," Jay screeched again, jumping up angrily. He wasn't a criminal! That Arcanine had even said it herself, he hadn't done anything wrong!

He hadn't known that those berries were illegal to take! He'd seen other Pokemon do it!

Even more frustrated, Jay swerved on his front paws and kicked the set of bars with his hind legs as hard as he could. Pain shot through his back paws like a shock, and the steel poles started shaking so hard that Jay swore the vibrations reached his skull. He covered his ears with a muffled cry and shoved himself against the farthest corner of the cell.

Through the shaking in his head and the sound of the rattling bars, Jay heard laughter from around him, coming from inside the other cells. Heat shooting to his cheeks, he stumbled back to the trembling bars and shoved his hot face against them, glaring with embarrassment.

The poles were set too close together for him to fit his face through, though, so he was stuck pressing his cheeks against the cold metal, unable to see anyone in the cell right to him (the one on his left was empty). Still, he stared through it, still twisting to get a glimpse of whatever horrible Pokemon was there.

Nothing came. No more giggling. It was as if everyone had retreated back into the corners of their cells the second he stood up.

"Agghhh," he grumbled, sitting down and pawing feebly at the bars. "My life so far is _definitely_ on the not-good side."

"Oh dear. How _terrible_. Just _awful_."

Jay whirled around, his fur bursting with electricity in a sudden flash, lighting up the dark cave momentarily. There was nobody behind him, just plain gray stone, plain gray bricks, _plain stupid awful GRAY._

"I hate the color gray," he murmured under his breath, scowling.

"Mmm," the voice said again, and once more Jay turned towards it as quickly as possible. Once more, the speaker was nowhere around, despite it feeling like they had spoken directly in his ear.

"That's unfortunate," the voice stated flatly, as if raising their eyebrows. Jay bristled towards it, still unlucky to catch them. _The voice is feminine_ , he decided nervously, lowering to the ground.

For a few long seconds there were no other words. Jay felt his eyebrows furrow low, and he opened his mouth. "What's unfortunate?"

"You don't like gray," the voice responded cooly. Jay looked up, swearing that it was coming from the ceiling.

"...So?"

"So," she explained, slippery-smooth. "You have gray fur on your body. A lot of it, in fact."

Jay twisted to look at the fluff above his tail, unsurprised and annoyed to find that fact right. "It's a very _dark_ gray," he tried, glaring up to the corner of the cell. "Almost black. Not like this stupid stone gray that's literally everywhere I ever go."

"Ohh, so it's just _stone_ you don't like." she reasoned, sounding thoughtful. "Well, I'll make sure you're constantly surrounded by it like pretty much most of the time. Yeah. You'd really hate that."

"What?" he asked, glaring at the ceiling. There was something strange about the voice...almost like it was familiar. Not in a good way. The feeling made him nervous. "Wha-What do you mean by that?"

There was a pause, like the voice was shrugging or grinning. "You're _really_ nervous," she said, and it was obvious that she was smirking or grinning or doing something creepily pleased. "Weird, you weren't like that before - OHH I get it - it's that dungeon I tossed you in, isn't it!"

"Tossed me in - d-did you have something to do with me getting there..getting like that?" Jay faltered, a hot shiver traveling up his spine. "Did you maybe know me before - do you know why I was in the dungeon in the first place? You...did you cause it? Any of it?"

" _Ha_ ," the silky voice laughed. "Yes?"

" _Yes_?" Jay tilted his head, his glare becoming a hard furrow. "Yes to which one? The causing? Knowing me?"

"Eh, all." she said offhandedly. "None if you really think about it. Can you think? Devolving does weird stuff to the brain. It's fun!"

"I can think," Jay said quickly, immediately confused by her words. _All. None if you really think about it_. What did that mean? That was completely contradictory.

 _Devolving does weird stuff to the brain. It's fun!_

That was such an odd sentence. What was devolving? He had a strange idea of salt and water, but that didn't feel right. It sounded scary and threatening, and sent another shiver up his spine. Not to mention the ominously psychopathic tone the voice had exclaimed _'it's fun!'_ in.

"Well, you definitely got amnesia, I think." she continued disappointedly after a moment. "That's unfortunate. Or maybe it's not. How much can you remember?"

Jay looked up again, stepping towards the voice. "How do you know all this stuff about me, anyways?"

A chuckle. "It's rude to ignore a question, you know."

"You avoided my question just now!"

"My answer is that it doesn't really matter if you can't remember," she said flippantly. "Now answer mine."

"Fine!" Jay stomped his foot in annoyance. "My answer is that it doesn't really matter that I can't remember anything since you already seem to know my life story!"

"Just the bad parts," the voice responded casually. "Also you just gave me the answer I was looking for in your-" she heaved a greatly exaggerated cough, sneaking in the word _"pathetic"_ between her choking. "-attempt to be rebellious. Thank you! You're more cooperative in this way, actually. I must have docked you down in age, too. Weird. I didn't know that would happen. Eh, doesn't matter, I guess."

"Age?" he asked snappishly, ready to end his conversation with the voice. Her casualty was grating, but also nervewracking. "You know what, you never even responded to my question of who you are! You never even responded to a lot of my questions! That makes you...ummmmwhatstheword - a hypocrite!"

"I don't deny that," she said, just as lazily as before. "Except you never asked who I was in the first place and I actually did answer like all of them."

"Well, now I'm having an existential crisis," he said grumpily. "I hope you're happy."

"Oh, I am!" she responded cheerfully, making Jay even more confused and annoyed. "You've been conscious for less than a day and you're already miserable! Sure, you're not bleeding to death in a dungeon, but that's alright-"

Jay flinched as a cold, wispy presence suddenly drifted in front of his face. Something black seemed to gleam in front of his chest for a moment, like light on black marbles, but it seemed to be the light.

Or maybe it wasn't.

"Hmmmm. You're emotion-driven." she said matter-of-factly, right in his face. Jay swiped the air in front of him, but his claws simply went through something invisible and freezing and drifty, like clouds without the water. He flinched back and swore he saw another gleam, this time like the light of eyes, which were level with him. He stared forwards persistently, letting out a nervous growl. He was staring at this - her - whoever this was - _straight_ in the eyes. Another flash - all these weird flashes were making him even more confused - and he assumed that this was of her invisible teeth as she smiled at him.

 _Invisible._

 _Cold._

 _Wispy._

 _Is she a ghost?_

"You were more emotional than physical before," she continued, interrupting his worried thoughts of ghosts with more confusing words. "But you're more driven by them now. Maybe the dungeon did it. At the same time, you're younger and weaker and way more dependant. So it all worked out! I should reward that Team DancerTang with some nightmares or something, they made you way more vulnerable - to me. Yaaaaaaaaay."

"Wha - what are you gonna do with Dazzletaz!?" Jay gasped, backing up. "They saved me!"

" _HA,_ " she laughed. "More like made your life way more awful for you. Aw man, you're going to be so miserable like all the time. This is so great."

"No!" Jay gasped. "Can you - what are you even talking about? I would've _died_ in that dungeon if Team Dazzletaz hadn't found me! I would've bled to death and been eaten by Pidgeys and been lost forever and - and -"

"None of that would've happened," she stated, her flippant voice continuing to confuse him. How could she say that? These were facts, weren't they? "I mean, you would have been lost forever, but you'd be insane by the time you found an Oran or something on your own."

"I-Insane?"

The voice paused. Jay lunged forwards again, but his claws swiped against empty air and not the cold ghost stuff he'd felt before.

"Wow, you lost more memory than I thought." she said finally, and Jay saw a shape going through the air - clear, almost invisible, but space rippled like wafts of hair or cloth were floating against it. The ghost had gone too high for him to attack her. He wrinkled his nose and sat back on his haunches.

"What does that mean?" he asked, his mouth twitching.

"'Means I'm bored," she said simply. The light-on-black-marbles effect flashed through the air again, but suddenly the hints of a figure disappeared completely. Jay turned in a full circle, his claws scraping against the stone.

"Stop talking in tongues!" Jay snapped, his claws letting out a _shniinkt!_ As they swerved into their sheathes mid-scrape. "I don't like this! I - I have no idea what's going on, I just sort of woke up...as me. But...shallower. Ca-can you just give me one answer? A hint? A name? Anything!?"

" _Anything_?" the ghost chuckled. "Mm, a mouthful of fire sounds good. You _literally_ refuse to shut up."

Jay snapped his jaws shut immediately, mostly from fear, but also to make a point.

"Eh, hang on, I've gotta make adjustments to my ever-adjusting adjustment schedule." There was another flicker of light, this time blue, and the ghost hummed. Jay backed up one, nervous that she might fulfill her comment on setting his tongue on fire.

The Shinx held his breath as the room faded into an unsettling pause where nothing happened, where a new thought struck him - he had electricity, didn't he? And electricity shocked things - it went right through air and water.

Did it go through ghosts?

Would it _hurt_ a ghost in the first place?

He could try - if he was fast and discreet about it, she wouldn't notice until it was too late, and the electricity would shock the ghost and…

What would happen then?

Jay shook that away, deciding that having a reason for the plan was less important than going through with the plan in the first place. He'd figure that out _after_ he was done with the actually-doing-it part.

The Shinx shuffled his feet, getting himself into a stance that gave him a clear view of the flickering blue light. He raised his tail, surprised at how easy it was to make it glow.

This couldn't be too hard. He saw it now, he had a clear shot - the ghost either hadn't noticed him or didn't care, and the electricity would be fast, shocking her quickly. Then he would...do something.

She had information...maybe he could force it out of her once she was on the floor, under his paws! He curled his lip, practicing his menacing face. A wave of doubt instantly washed over him, and he abandoned his face-making. He didn't feel too good at being threatening.

The space rippled again, and Jay tensed himself, raising the star on his tail even higher. He focused on how it was glowing, the electricity going through it...he felt the familiar sparks bunching through his muscles, and tried supercharging the feeling, letting the electricity get more and more powerfu-

 _WAIT._

 _I HAVE LITERALLY NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING._

The electricity suddenly released itself in a point-blank burst of white, sending a feeling through the Shinx's body like being snapped in half. His entire being rattled feverently, feeling like the steel bars when they were shook by the prisoners - vibrating endlessly.

There was nothing in the stone cell to catch on fire, but once Jay shook the blurriness out of his eyes he could see the long, deep black scorch marks that had been newly brandished over the walls, each one looking like a tiny bomb had gone off against the wall. The gray had successfully disappeared, appearing more like the fur on his hind legs - which, he was pleased to announce, was not as awful as stone gray. _Take that, stupid mystery ghost!_

...What _did_ happen to the mystery ghost?

There was a minute of silence as the cell fizzled, some loose sparks flying against the corners one last time before vanishing. Jay twitched in the stillness, his mind blank from the shock of literally making himself explode.

"OH MY GOD." the ghost snorted, choking on her own astonished laughter. "DID YOU JUST _SHOCK YOURSELF_? THAT WAS **BEAUTIFUL.** "

Jay spat out something charred that he decidedly wasn't going to question. "I-"

"Ohhhhhh God..." she laughed, making Jay shrink into his puffed-out fur. He started to hear murmurs from the cells on his right, followed by pounding on the stone walls and shaking of the bars.

"Aaaand now they're going to think you're trying to lead a riot," the ghost said airily, chuckling. "Great job, kid. Real nice."

"Get away!" Jay snapped, doing his best to send an actual thunderbolt at her. A few sparks flew from his fur, and he had a feeling that he was being looked at with a very unimpressed expression.

The air in front of him let out an amused sigh. "Jeez, what'sa matter with you?" she said, letting a _whoosh_ of stale air whack him in the face. "I was _just_ about to give you a present, and then you go on trying to attack me? Ha! Was that little explosion of yours supposed to be an _attack?_ That was really pathetic."

Jay swallowed, biting his lip. He wasn't sure what had happened when he'd tried using his electricity, but it almost felt like he'd been doing it right. Before. Well. You know. He screwed up. He wouldn't call it pathetic, though! (Okay, yes he would)

"Anyways, I don't know if you'll still _want_ this." the ghost continued, the air flicking with blue, like tiny flames popping in front of his vision. "I think you're the one who smashed it up like this, and it's pretty useless now. You probably won't even remember what it is. Yeahhh, I really shouldn't bother-"

"No, please!" Jay said quickly, straightening. He took a breath and tried composing himself to look as dignified and polite as possible, despite having a hunch that his fur was probably smoking a bit. "I'd - I'd like to see that, please. Whatever... _that_ is."

" _Ha_ ," the ghost laughed again, a sound Jay was starting to despise almost as much as the color gray. "Sure! I have literally no use for it at all. Knock yourself out."

With a strange _pop!_ , something heavy crashed straight against Jay's head, right where he'd bruised himself on the temple. He yelped, stumbling backwards and throwing his paws out to snag the object as his back hit the floor. Cold, round material caved against his pads, made of a strange material that probably would've been smooth if it wasn't for the fact that it was cracked and broken.

"What the…" Jay rubbed his head with his bandaged paw - which, for some reason, wasn't bandaged. It must have been fried off in his catastrophic thundershock attack. A harsh stab of pain went through his paw when he pressed it against the bruise, though, and he turned it over to inspect it, surprised to see something small and sharp and blue lodged into the pad.

Was that metal? Glass? Some sort of weird plastic? The bluish color glinted oddly against the red of his paw, looking like a lost star. It reminded him of the strange light-gleaming-on-marbles effect he always got when he was looking at the hazy figure of the ghost.

Who, he finally realized, had disappeared.

"Good riddance," he grumbled sourly, turning his head to inspect the object at last. A stab of angry grief suddenly went through him at the sight of it, so out-of-nowhere that it made him jolt upwards.

It was a round circle, or most likely used to be, since it was so cracked and shattered and scratched in that it looked more like a squashed oran. Despite its near unrecognizable state, he could clearly make out the color, a bright shade of orchid. On either side of it were two nubs of singed fluff, strands of the pale blue drifting from the stubs like bits of Nitzi's wool.

Actually, thinking about it, he _had_ seen something similar to this on Nitzi. She had been wearing a circular pin with fluffy ribbons when they'd first met, back in the dungeon - all the members of Team Dazzletaz had. Though...there had been something different about those, besides being intact. Something bronze and shiny in the center…something this object was lacking.

There _was_ an indentation in the center of the pin, now that he really looked. He'd written it off as one of the breaks in the metal, but no, it was definitely part of the design. Strange.

Jay ran his paw over the shattered-in item, feeling his brain swirling sluggishly. There really was something familiar about this thing.

Maybe the ghost wasn't a complete psychopathic creep after all.

Maybe she actually _could_ help him.

Probably not willingly, though...he might have to work on his menacing face some more.

"Hello?" Jay called, unhappy about the cracking in his voice. He gulped, trying to smooth it. "Uh….hey, Ms. Ghostly Ghostiness? I'm pretty sure you're a ghost. Uh….do you happen to know what this thing is? Or have any intention of ever telling me?"

"Oooooooooooh, I can tell youuuuuu!" a shrill voice cooed from the cell on the right of him. Jay tensed, wondering if it was another ghost or just a prisoner trying to get something valuable. Most likely the latter.

"I have something," he said slowly, pressing himself against the right corner of his cell where the bars and stone met. He drew the shattered object closer to himself. "But I don't know what it is."

"I know of aaaaaalll sorts of treasures," the shrill voice purred. Jay wasn't sure what type of Pokemon it was. "Just tell me about it. What it looks like. What the reaction was when you stole it, mmmm?"

"Oh." Jay had forgotten that being in here made everyone rightfully assume he was a criminal. "Well, I didn't really steal it. Somebody...gave it to me. Just now."

"Is that truuuuuueeeeee? Well, doesn't matter, I assume. How shinnyyyy is it?"

Jay glanced at the battered pin. "Not too shiny. It's round. I think. And blue. There are these weird streamer things on the sides, or there used to be. Oh. I think there's supposed to be like a marble or stone in the middle."

The prisoner on his side laughed. "That's no _treasure_!" they barked. "That sounds like a Dungeon Team Badge! You'll barely get a hundred Poke for that thing! Did they seriously throw you in for stealing _that?_ "

 _No._ "So do explorers wear these?" he asked, not wanting to discuss his newfound criminal record. "Do you need these to explore a dungeon?"

"Suuuuuurree," the voice continued to purr. "The rankings need to be asssigned by a guild official, of couursssseee, but you can use annnyyy badge to be qualified for a team. Not that you'd want to be in a team!" Another cackle.

Jay shrunk back, keeping the badge between his paws. "Oh. ...Interesting? Thank you."

The voice let out a grunt. Jay edged away from the corner and let himself curl up in the middle of the room.

 _Was I an explorer once? Or a rescuer? Did I work at a guild? Did I have a team?_ He pressed his pads against the pin, not caring about the bits of metal getting into the skin. This thing seemed to bring more questions than answers.

But at the same time, it left him with a clue. A big, blazing clue.

One that, frankly, he wouldn't have ignored even without the explorer badge.

* * *

 **Wow, I couldn't even meet the updating schedule for two chapters. That's just pathetic.**

 **I wasn't too fond of the chapter while I was writing it but I found it decent while reading over it. It reads pretty short (at least for me) but that's alright. It's really one that's dragging the *coughcoughplot* in more direction.**

 **Foreshadowing, Mystery Items, Blowing Yourself Up, usual 'who-was-my-past-life' cliche stuff. Jay's still a criminal. Convenient, the outlaw-chaser was once an outlaw themselves.**

 **Oh yeah by the way Jay can't really use electricity! He can use physical moves (tackle, scratch) just fine but his sense of directing his electric moves got out of whack. He's going to have to learn from a Flaaffy friend if he wants to get gud.**

 **I drew a refernce sheet for Jay if anyone cares:** art/Shattered-Destiny-Reference-Jay-681524617 **I'll do some for Dazzletaz if I have time. Which is most likely never**


	5. Felonies

Jay was getting _really_ tired of things being thrown at his head.

The Oran Berry bounced against his temple with a pathetic _thump_ , squarely hitting the already-throbbing bruise. Jay yelped, jumping up immediately and swinging around to find the thrower.

"AaaaAaa!" he complained loudly, bristling and glaring daggers at the newly-spotted Meinshao. The cell door was opened wide behind her, white light sliding into the cell, freed from the narrow shadows of the bars.

The Martial Arts Pokemon flinched back, the long fur on her arms fluttering dangerously. "Back!" she hissed, her voice steely and hard, like she could take on a million freaked-out little Shinxes with one paw-flick. Jay didn't doubt it, crouching away.

"Am...am I free to go?" he asked, surprised by the shakiness of his voice. He glared at himself and rubbed his snout, trying hard to push it away.

 _What are you afraid of?_ Jay growled to himself, _scary talking ghosts who have relics of your past?_

 _Yes,_ he said back, _exactly that._

The Meinshao's brow furrowed, her eyes lidding. "No," she said firmly, lifting her pointed snout a little higher. "That'll be later. Maybe tomorrow. This is your dinner." She kicked the blue berry, which now had a soft dent on it, closer to him. After a careful look-over of him with her beady teal eyes, she handed him another Oran, this time without chucking it at his forehead.

"Your fur's singed," she noted, watching as Jay cautiously slid one of the Oran Berries towards him. He barely heard the question, realizing that he was pretty hungry. Was it night now? Or still evening? He'd been asleep, hadn't he? Was it morning?

A cold memory nagged at him, and he froze mid-bite, remembering the strange ghost. His appetite momentarily vanished, replaced by the sound of her voice - cold, maniacal, hauntingly familiar.

Jay was snapped out of his nervous muse by the burn of the Meinshao's glare, and he realized that she'd said something. "Oh," he said stupidly, processing her words. He glanced at his front legs, which were tinted at the edges with black, like they'd been licked with flames. At least he didn't feel as puffed-out anymore. "Yeah. I, um...kinda blew up."

"Yet you're still whole."

Jay sweatdropped. "Yeah...more like...my electricity blew up? I was charging it, I think, and I was about to use it and it just went KA-BLAM!" He pounded his paw against one of the Oran Berries for effect, satisfied with how it exploded in a big _SQUISH_ and how the blue juice squirted everywhere and got all over the scorched walls.

The Meinshao seemed to just be noticing said scorched walls. "Did you do this!?" she cried, her voice edged with outrage as her paw shot out to gesture angrily at the blackened stone.

"Yeeeeaaaahhhhh…..?"

Her eyes widened, slitting with rage.

Jay realized for the first time that his point-black electricity failure might have caused more that frustration. "Uhhhhh….not deliberately?" he tried, attempting a 'not-guilty' smile and failing miserably. He shifted his gaze away from the Oran Berry-splattered scorchmarks and felt another bead of sweat trail down his head.

The Meinshao seemed speechless with either anger or shock, or maybe both. Her teeth bared into a scowl. "Fine," she hissed through clenched fangs, her voice so tight it made Jay shiver. "Fine. Fine. _Fine._ "

"You don't sound fine," Jay squeaked, immediately regretting using his voice.

The furious Meinshao whipped towards him, her eyes blazing with something tense that was struggling to snap. "Enjoy your _dinner,_ " she said, making her voice steely again. "As for _getting out_ , I'm off to go postpone your _trial_."

"Postpone!?" he cried, scrambling up. He slipped in Oran juice and fell to the stone floor with a painful _thud_. "Why? I was told I'd be out by now!"

" _WHY_?" the Meinshao nearly shrieked, her steely voice becoming sparking iron. She waved frantically at the walls, which looked like an abstract art piece. "Vandalism is a _strict_ crime, you know! This place is an esteemed establishment! We take our duty very seriously! This is no _slop-house_ we've been running for 30 years! We'll need to completely change the walls in this cell because of you!"

Cowering against the stained walls, all Jay could find to say was "Because of the juice?"

The Martial Arts Pokemon let out a high-pitched growl from deep in her throat. "You will be let out _tomorrow,_ you dull-horned Boufalaunt! We take crimes against a place to _deal_ with your crimes _very seriously_ here at Sepia Police Department!"

Jay shifted uneasily. "Oh."

The Meinshao took a deep breath and let it out in a strong, controlled puff. "Good _night_ ," she said tersely, making a steady exit from his "vandalized" cell. She swung the cell door closed, and the bars clicked back into place, casting those long lonely shadows over his body once again.

Jay frowned at his berries, realizing that his very accurate demonstration probably hadn't helped his chances of innocence. It had taken away half of his dinner, too. Scowling, he chewed at the single blue pulp, lapping juice from the crushed berry off his paws.

 _Well, that was hardly anything_ , he thought crossly, licking his lips with dissatisfaction as he realized he'd finished so fast. There was juice and bits of berry all over the walls, but he didn't exactly want to lick the stone.

The other prisoners around him were making a considerable racket, shaking and pounding and hollering at the metal bars. Jay edged over to his own set of steel poles and tried mimicking them, battering his front paws against the cold metal and crying out. "HEYYY! Helloooo!? AaaaAAAAAa!"

Nobody responded. Jay realized, dejectedly, that he was in the last occupied cell. The Meinshao had most likely fed everyone, and was probably back in….wherever she would go. The front desk? The breakroom? Home?

 _Home._ The thought made him sad, then frustrated. Then he thought about the strange ghost, her odd way of speaking, like she was playing an exciting game and she was reaching the best part. He got even more frustrated, and jumped down from the bars, rolling angrily against the stone ground.

Stupid stone! Jay kicked his legs in the air, feeling electricity sparking up his tail, but he didn't attempt to control it into a thundershock- he was afraid that he'd be stuck in the tiny cell even longer if it went wrong again, and he was also somewhat embarrassed that he couldn't use simple electric attacks.

He channeled his frustration into a lot of thrashing and rolling and pounding all over the stone ground. It was completely unproductive, but it felt good.

Eventually he rolled back against the metal bars, sticking his nose through the light and staring at the plain white walls. Everything seemed to have quieted down again. He could even hear some snoring coming far from his right - the other prisoners deciding to sleep, to leave the rest of their bar-shaking to the next day, when Jay would hopefully get his 'trial' and get out and go...somewhere.

His gaze drifted towards the glinting blue Dungeon Team badge lying on the ground. He stared at the object for what felt like forever, studying the cracks and shattered pieces, the ripped-out ribbons and the empty circle in the middle.

Had he really been in a Dungeon Team once? He tried recalling back to the scary stone Labyrinth he'd found himself in, but it was immediately too vivid and panicking - the dizziness, the pain, the feeling of blood dripping down his body, slowly, much slower than normal blood - he curled into a ball and closed his eyes. There was no warm, sure familiarity in that experience. It was nothing but chest-pounding terror trapped in stone.

He tried focusing on the Destiny Base instead. What Nitzi had told him...it had felt familiar, sooooort of. Not really. From what he'd seen of the actual base, though, it was a pretty cool place. Even Team Dazzletaz was fun to be around with, though Lily got on his nerves pretty easily.

 **CLOOONG.**

Jay jumped, his eyes wide as the cell was engulfed in darkness. The white walls turned gray as the lights outside the bars were shut off, making the shadows finally disappear.

The Shinx blinked, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. They seemed to do that pretty well. Did he have night vision? He squinted at the white wall, which now looked gray, but his vision wasn't tinted in a cool sci-fi green.

 _Wait._

Something moved behind the wall. Jay squinted his gaze so tight he saw blurry, which was somewhat counterproductive, but he swore that the shadows he was seeing were coming from behind it.

Was he _seeing through the walls?_

That sounded….fine? The thought didn't really surprise him, in all honesty. He stared at the wall, trying to focus on the blurry sillhouette. A Pokemon was shuffling around, its paws on something large and square - a desk, maybe. He looked harder, but he couldn't really see anything else. No details of the room. The Pokemon looked canine, but that was all he could make of it.

"Oooooo!" he murmured out loud, making a little jump in the air with his paws. "This is really cool. I can spy on people!"

"Shut up," somebody called from a cell far to his right. Jay huffed and stuck his tongue out before realizing nobody could see him.

"I'm sticking my tongue out!" he announced indignantly, puffing out his fur.

"SHUT UP."

Jay glared at the scorched stone wall at his right, but his super-cool night vision didn't work well enough to see who had insulted him. He made out the figure of something large, with slowly flapping wings. A butterfly Pokemon? There were millions of those, and he was pretty sure that wasn't who had told him off.

The Shinx frowned, wondering what he should do. "Uhhhhhh…..can the speaker please tell me their name - and also maybe their specie-"

"SHUT UP!" several of the prisoners screamed at once, much louder and more aggressively. Jay flinched, deciding to shut up.

* * *

After a short second, Jay found himself jolting awake at once, his ears ringing. He didn't remember falling asleep, but his back ached with cramps. He lifted himself into a more comfortable position, rubbing his eyes. A bead of cold sweat ran down his back, making him shiver.

Life slowly came into focus around him, the stone against his paws warm from body heat, the slanted shadows sharp against a bright white wall. There was a lot of noise around him, from both inside and outside of cells. The orchid-blue Dungeon Team Badge was hiding in the shadowy corner near him.

Jay stared at the badge, studying the brokeness of its figure. He felt a pang of familiarity, and wondered if he'd dreamed about it. _Had_ he even dreamed? A vague sense of visions from last night came to him, but they were already forgotten and dusty, and he was pretty sure it had been a random nonsensical one.

"Dreams are just messed-up-movies," he mused to himself, dismissing the subject. "Just like that one about the cats and the puppets."

He wondered if he would be given a breakfast before his trial, hopefully more than a single Oran Berry (it was totally not his fault that he had squashed half his dinner. That was just unfair). Thinking about the trial made him excited and jittery. He was ready to get out of the stupid stone cell. He wanted to see more of the wonderfully interesting Sepia City, to tell Nitzi and Violet about his odd discussion with the ghost earlier, and about the broken exploration badge.

Jay was so lost in his fantasies of what would happen after the trial that he didn't even notice the Arcanine stomping over to his cell. He was just lying there, wondering about berries and the Destiny Base, when his thoughts were _very rudely_ interrupted by a loud _**CLONG.**_

The Shinx yelped, jumping to his feet and wincing as his formerly broken paw hit the ground hard.

"Well, I'm glad you're enthusiastic." the Arcanine mumbled. It was the same one that had come to cart him off to this place yesterday. She pressed some sort of button he couldn't see and let the bars swing away.

Jay crept forwards. "Hello," he tried. Always a good start.

The Arcanine shrugged. "Sorry your trial got postponed. It was supposed to be last night, but the fact that you graffitied one of our cells...complicated things." She tilted her head to one shoulder, scowling. " _I_ don't think it's that big a deal, but we're 'esteemed' and 'in one of the biggest cities in the world', so of _course_ they had to press charges." Her scowl deepened. "Are you done gaping? Let's get this over with."

"Ah!" he said, scrambling forwards. "Right, er…"

"Tundra," she suggested, not looking too happy about it.

"Right." Jay thought it was weird that she had the name of an Ice or even Water-Type when she was a Fire-Type, but then he realized that his own name was literally the one of a non-existant species. He slid out of the cell and stood in front of Tundra, waiting to see where to go.

"Get moving." the Arcanine growled, shoving him forwards with one of her huge paws. He gasped and stumbled forwards, then caught himself and started to trot.

He was glad he wasn't getting carried this time, and that he was actually allowed to walk. The floor was smooth cement under his paws, still gray, but a much preferred change from stone. The white wall went on unrelentlessly, making him trudge past what must have been dozens more cells.

"How many Pokemon can you _keep_ in here?" he murmured.

Tundra heard him and snorted. "Precautions," she grumbled. "We deal with the petty thieves like you, hold them in here until we either give them a fine or cart them to the Big House. This entire place is too...pretentious."

"Oh."

The white hall made a sudden turn as they passed the last of the cells, the other wall also turning white. Green doors swung open and close from both sides of the wall, Pokemon hurrying in and out, strolling into their offices, carrying files. Jay could tell it was early in the morning, since most were chugging from paper coffee cups or nibbling bagels as they walked.

"Here," Tundra said, opening one of the doors. Jay stared at it, suddenly nervous. He realized that he was completely unprepared for this trial. What if the punishment would be more severe than he could handle? He might say something and make himself look a thousand times worse.

Tundra shoved at him with her huge paws again. "I hate trials." she mumbled, her voice gruff. "Please don't make this difficult. Come _on._ "

Jay scrambled inside, surprised to find that he wasn't in a huge stone court or scary throneroom, but a regular-looking white-and-wood room. There was a large wood desk with a heavy-looking box and papers and other stuff pressed against one wall, some chairs, a bench, and several file cabinets lined up against the other walls. It looked almost boring, and completely average. He relaxed a bit and hopped onto one of the chairs. It was lake-green plastic with a cheap brown pillow-seat, but it felt like clouds after sleeping on the uncomfortable stone.

Tundra padded in behind him and sat behind the brown desk, crossing her front paws on the top of it. She reached for a paper lying casually on it - a paper that looked completely blank.

 _Oh!_ Jay thought, a rush of hopefullness filling him at the sight of the paper. _There's nothing written on there! Maybe they'll just let me go?_

"Alllllright," Tundra sighed, rubbing one of her yellow-gold eyes. She cast the paper aside and pulled out a square of stained foam from the box, along with a shallow, rectangular box full of black ink. Jay tilted his head at them, confused. This was a rather odd trial.

"M'kay, I need your papers and I didn't get a pawprint last night," she said, scooting the foam and ink box towards him. "So I have a bunch of Shinx files in the back, just give me your ID and I'll sort you out."

Jay frowned, staring at the ink box. "Er...ID?"

"Identification," she prompted. The bored expression deeped as she lidded her eyes and yawned. Jay continued to stare at the ink box and foam, wondering if he had to write his name.

"I don't know my name." he said suddenly, looking up at Tundra. One of her yellow eyes opened a bit, and her eyebrows arched upwards.

The Arcanine regarded him with a scowl of confused-looking doubt. "...How's that?" she asked after a moment, wrinkling her snout. "Your name? You forgot it?"

"Y-yes. I'm using...a….a nickname, I guess?..."

Tundra's gaze was suddenly sharper against his face. He ducked his head, but it still droned onto the back of his neck.

"...Okay," she said, obviously suspicious. "We can still track you with your pawprint. We have scanners, you know. We can find you even if you live all the way in Treasure Town." With a sigh, she carefully lifted the ink box in her teeth and poured a bit of its contents onto the smudged piece of foam. "Pawprint? _Now_?" Her voice turned sharp as well.

Jay flinched, pressing a paw onto the foam where the ink had been poured. When he lifted it, his paw was entirely covered in ink, tracing every line and swirl on the skin. It was kind of cool, he thought, turning his paw to marvel at how complex his paw pad looked.

"Stamp it on the paper," Tundra said clearly, the boredom starting to fade from her voice as she got aggravated. Jay quickly pressed his paw onto the paper, a little too enthusiastically, so that it looked all smudged and ruined. It took three more tries to get the stamp right.

"Have you ever stamped your ID before?" she wondered to herself, not really talking to him, as she inserted the clearest pawprint into a slitted machine. Jay waited for a few minutes, giving his black paw a curious lick, and immediately sputtering at the horrible taste. Tundra glared apprehensively at him as tried desperately to clean his tongue.

It took at least fifteen minutes, but at last the machine gave a little whir, and spat out a neatly printed file covered in writing. There was small photo at the top, and a pawprint just like his at the bottom. Miniscule writing was crammed between them.

Tundra tugged out the paper and put it on the desk, sitting back down. "See? The scanners can reprint any ID as long as there's the...pawprint…."

The Arcanine trailed off, staring at the file in fascination, her eyes wider than Jay had ever seen them(they were usually half-closed, anyways). He started getting uncomfortable.

"Um…" he squeaked, shifting on his chair. "Is...is there something wrong with it?"

Tundra's brow just furrowed even more deeply. She suddenly tore her wide yellow eyes from the paper and snatched up one of Jay's sloppy pawprints, her eyes flicking from the smudgy one in her paws to the one applied neatly to the file. Jay's uncomfort deepened into dread: did he even have a file? Was he registered into this world's system?

And then, poking through his dread, something hit him: _If I_ do _have a file, It'll tell me all I need to know about myself! Maybe - if I read it - I can remember everything again!_

But there seemed to be something wrong with his file, if the one Tundra was looking at really belonged to him - she was shaking her head, pushing the papers away from her.

"Did you tell me your name?" she asked suddenly, not looking at him.

"I-I don't think so, n-no-" he stammered, the Arcanine's strange behavior rattling his nerves. "It's Jay - Jay - like the bird...I think…but it's not really...er...official….."

Tundra's gaze was already back on the file. Her eyes flitted from his face to the photo on the paper, her expression etched into bewlidered perplexion.

"This _can't_ be you," she muttered to herself, staring at the paper so intently it was a shock it didn't burst into flames. "This _isn't_ you...that's impossible...no...must be a mix-up…but…"

Jay, his heart starting to swarm itself into a panic, cleared his throat (which sounded particularly high, but hopefully that was only to his ears) and spoke up, his voice wavering. "I...is something wrong...should I redo my pawprint...d-did the ID get the wrong Pokemon…?-"

"It must have," Tundra said, more firmly than her voice had been since she'd seen the file. "Jay, is it? There must be a mix-up…your pawprint must have been too blotchy...this can't be right, after all…"

"Did it get my species wrong?" he asked, wondering if that was possible. Would it really be a screw-up worthy of this bewilderment, though? Tundra was acting like her nose had turned into a strawberry.

"Yes-well, no, it….it's impossible, but...the file under your pawprint…

It...it belongs to a _Luxio._ "


	6. Moving Along

The words rang in his ears for a moment, struggling to fit themselves into his brain.

"A _Luxio?_ "

"Yes...doesn't have your name...it's absurd...this scanner's never made a mistake before...must...must be broken…."

"But…" Jay lurched forwards to look at the file, but Tundra's large paws tugged the paper towards her, giving him less than a glimpse. She propped it up to her face and studied it carefully.

"Must be a mistake….a mistake…" she muttered to herself, looking the paper up and down without reading it. She put the file between her teeth, opened the nearest cabinet, and placed it gingerly inside along with all the other papers.

"Do you live in Sepia City?" she asked suddenly, sitting back down at her desk.

"What?"

"Live here. In Sepia."

"Oh - no, I don't think so."

Tundra's eyes narrowed, eyebrows shooting up. She didn't look very bored anymore, but the way her eyelids showed more than her actual eyes was almost familiar with her.

"What do you mean, _you don't know?_ "

Jay opened his mouth to answer, but her accusatory tone made him think: would she believe him if he told her that he honestly, really didn't know, didn't know anything, anything but waking up in a Mystery Dungeon?

But then again, he didn't have any other stories.

"I - er - can't really...remember much…" he admitted, fidgeting. He could already tell she didn't believe him. "I...but...I don't think….I don't remember Sepia City...I saw a bit of it earlier before I got, um….apprehended."

The room was uncomfortably quiet while Tundra tapped her paws on the desk. Jay glanced over at the cabinet where the Luxio file had been placed, a fierce curiosity boiling in his belly.

"Alright," she said finally. "I guess we'll make you a new file. I have a pawprint, we'll need a picture, but that's easy - and we can do the rest. But-" her paws dug under the desk and produced another paper, this one printed in lettering far too small to be the Arcanine's writing - "Let's get your trial and fine over with."

"Fine?" Jay had forgotten he was here for being a criminal - his mind had been glued to the cabinet with the Luxio file.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna waste my morning shoving my nose through the 20-something Shinx files I got, am I? I'll get someone else to do that. I'm already gonna spend a good half of my day making you a file, so the sooner I get you out of here, the better."

The bewilderment was completely gone from Tundra's voice, it was back to being annoyed and bored.

Jay reluctantly focused himself back into the present, keeping thoughts about the strange file at the edge of his brain. He had to admit that he liked the idea of getting out of here fast - the sooner he was back with Team Dazzletaz, the better. "...Alright."

Tundra glanced down at the paper and cleared her throat half-dramatically, half-lazily, somehow yawning simultaneously. "Do you admit to all crimes committed in the past twelve hours?"

"Um...yes?"

"Trial done," The Arcanine declared flatly, her eyes flicking down to the paper. "Let's see…Hm, 24 sitrus berries, that's a lot of berries… Alright, theft and ruin of produce isn't that big of a fine, but sitrus berries in general are expensive, so that raises it...quite a bit… and of course, attacking a citizen...nothing serious, it was a pretty weak shock, but you can't escape the penalties…ahhh…vandalism." She clucked her tongue in an exasperated sort of way. "That piles a hefty amount...aaanddd...your fine comes down to 9,600 Poke."

"Oh." Jay racked his brain, feeling his heart drop at the number. "Huh. That's...bad, isn't it?"

"It's expensive." Tundra agreed, scrawling something into a form with, as Jay had predicted, a very large and scratchy sort of handwriting. "You're going to want to crank in some extra allowance or something to pay that off - maybe make a quick team with a buddy and do some easy jobs at the Destiny Base, that's what most kids do when they get charged for loitering or whatever."

"The Destiny Base?" Jay asked, ears perking up. "I know that place! I woke up there yesterday!"

Tundra frowned at him. "Okay. Well, that makes creating your file easier. Is that your residence? Do you have a team already?"

"Well...no." he admitted, slumping his shoulders. "I don't really know...and I don't think I live anywhere here, really. I'm still….er...figuring it out."

The Arcanine's eyes narrowed, but she still scowled as usual and continued writing. "Well, if you've got no place to go and no way to make this cash, it's a decent option to check out - the dorms aren't anything special, but you can make do, the pay's pretty good, and a good chunk of job requests can be done without stepping foot into a dungeon - it's probably your best bet."

Jay's eyes unconsciously drifted towards the cabinets. "Maybe," he said, his mind starting to race. He considered living as a rescuer or explorer, and with a pang of shock, remembered the battered blue Dungeon Team Badge lying on his cell's floor. "I'll….think about it."

* * *

Jay was glad that he could leave the room before Tundra was finished with his ID, as the amount of questions she had needed for it had taken almost an hour to get through. He frowned at his "escort" to the waiting room at the front of the police department, who was obviously just a guard with a slightly more passive label. Apparently he was still dangerous enough to need a guard to get him through a few yards, and he found it highly unnecessary.

Jay slowed as they got closer to his former cell, wondering if the bars would be closed. Then he realized that he would notice a gaping hole in the line of steel poles to his right, and resigned to the fact that he wouldn't be able to sneak in.

"Keep up," the Gabite guard snapped, poking Jay in the side with a sharp claw. Jay winced and slunk down the white hall, his eyes warily scanning the empty cells, hoping to catch a glint of blue.

He wasn't sure why, but the thought of leaving the shattered Dungeon Team Badge behind made him feel oddly anxious and uneasy. There didn't seem to be a reason for it - it was just a reminder of the strange visit from the ghost, which he might've written off as a hallucination if it wasn't for the badge anyways. There was something familiar about it, about its color and weight and what it must've looked like before. And then there was the nagging suspicion it had something to do with his past…

A glimpse of bright, neon yellow against the gray bars caught Jay's attention, and he glanced over to see what looked like an entire roll of caution tape wrapped around the bars of a particular cell. One with black scorch marks running along its Oran Berry-stained walls. Jay immediately skidded to a stop.

"Get moving," his guard growled, tensing their wings as they prodded the Shinx again, a bit harder. Jay kept his eyes glued to his former cell, scanning the ground - ah! His gaze pinpointed on a beat-up lump of purple-blue metal, still glinting forlornly in the corner of the room.

"What happened to the cell?" Jay asked, eyeing the thick caution tape wrung around the bars. It's loud DO NOT ENTER message screamed into his eyes, forcing him to look back down.

"What's it to ya?" The Gabite gave Jay a hard shove, the tip of their claw pricking his spine. Jay shuffled forwards, feeling his fur fluff up instinctively, and forced it to go flat. The Cave Dragon eyed him warily, keeping their posture tense and rigid, prepared to attack.

"Nothing," Jay said, trying to keep his voice from quaking or sounding rude. "I just wanted to know."

"Yeah, right." The Gabite's posture barely relaxed, if at all. "Your mess - we've gotta get our rock types to sort out a new set of walls. Oran Juice can be washed off, but scorch marks, not so much. You'd better get that fine of yours paid up soon, renovation ain't cheap."

Jay nodded quickly, hoping he didn't look suspicious (which he wasn't, honestly). "Well, I'm, er….very sorry about that. But there's something in there I need."

The Dragon's sunken yellow eyes scanned him like a security device. "And that is?"

Jay didn't really have a good lie, and he couldn't come up with one on the spot, no matter how hard he racked his brain. "It's...ah...nothing, really." he rambled, feeling a bead of sweat collect on his forehead. The Gabite's gaze bore into his own, and he muttered, "It's a broken Dungeon Team Badge. I...ah...wanted to use it. And I found it before I got arrested. In...the trash. Yeah, the trash! All shattered up. I, er...think it's cool, and stuff. And I'd like it back...yeah."

The Gabite snorted, tilting their wings and turning their head upwards. "You can't do anything with a broken badge. The Destiny Base gives you one when you join."

Jay shrugged, the information not changing his mind. "Please. Can't you still lift the bars, just for a few seconds?" He shifted his weight as if preparing to sit there for an hour, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to stand his ground that long(and frankly, he didn't want to).

With a loud sigh, the Gabite waved him away with their wings and messed around with some cords and bits of metal on the side of the cell. The bars swung upwards immediately, a lone tail of caution tape dangling in front of the stone room.

"Make it quick," they grumbled, but Jay was already skidding to the corner. He scooped up the smashed badge, and, after a moment of hesitation, carried it by pressing it to his back with his tail (he didn't want to put it in his mouth, since a piece of the shattered metal would probably poke his tongue).

A few prisoners had already started hollering as he slipped out of the little stone room, banging their bodies against the bars and making them rattle. The Gabite rolled their eyes, shut the cell, and gave Jay a harsh shove to keep him moving. Jay scrambled down the white hall as quickly as he could, trying to balance with his tail and the badge pressed against his back.

Somehow, he managed to stumble into the waiting room without any more shoves. He was surprised with how nice it looked;a decent-sized room with a pale stone ground, large-windowed walls that overlooked a busy Sepia City street, and polished oak benches that hugged the walls. Potted plants jutted between the benches, which were stacked with magazines. There were no Pokemon sitting in the room, but a Chimeco was reading behind a receptionist desk parallel to the door. She glanced at them as they arrived before going back to her book.

The Gabite watched stilly as Jay padded nervously over to a bench, only leaving after the Shinx hopped on. The benches were much more comfortable than the stone floor, even if they weren't cushioned, and Jay settled down contently, placing the Dungeon Team Badge next to him. He pulled a random magazine in front of him and started to flick through the pages.

It turned out that the magazine was a gossipy tabloid-type issue, expressing with great detail many lives of celebrities Jay had never heard of (of course, there was that whole amnesia thing, so that was unsurprising). It was obviously fake and overdramatic and written in the most absurdly extra way possible, but he found it amusing, and didn't put it down.

Jay was dimly aware of Pokemon flitting in and out of the room as the time ticked by, some of them workers at the police department, some citizens with problems or news, and a screeching, handcuffed Hitmontop that was forcefully shoved into the white hallway by an angry Boldore cop. He picked up another magazine, this one about science and the atmosphere and plants, as he got increasingly bored and restless.

"I'm done."

Jay looked up quickly, his paws sliding over the magazine (which was yelling at him to buy a new, more enviornmentally-sustainable shampoo). Tundra held a decently thick folder in her mouth, which was bursting with neatly stacked papers.

"Your fine issue is in there, too." she said, placing the folder on top of the magazine. "And pretty much all the files and legal certificates that are absolutely one-hundred-percent necessary to you living here legally." She flicked her tail as Jay pushed the magazine away and ruffled through the papers. He found a thick one with the 9,600 Poke fine on it, with dates and fine print and everything, and another paper, this one less thick and fancy, that said that he owed the police station another 500 Poke.

"Making files doesn't come cheap," Tundra said, noticing which paper he was staring at. "Especially with what little I had to work with and how much I had to decide for you."

"Thanks," Jay said gratefully, suddenly feeling bad about how much trouble he'd caused. "I really didn't mean any of this. Honest."

"That's not going to get you out of paying the debt, kid."

Jay was quiet, reading snippets about his age and health status, his bruises and paw throbbing slightly. "How do I pay these off?" he asked, looking up from the papers. "Who do I give the money to, I mean."

"The bank," Tundra said, her focus from the conversation already dwindling. "Or the Police Station. Discuss it with an adult or something, I'm no financial adviser."

Tundra sighed and began to trot away, dismissing him with a jerk of her head, but Jay sprang up from the bench. "What did you do with the Luxio file?" he asked hurriedly, hoping that he could look at it, and maybe put it in his new folder of files. His tail lifted hopefully, swaying in the room's stillness.

The Arcanine turned to look down at him, flattening her ears in that bored way of hers. "It's been re-filed." she said simply. "Put away, since we don't need it anymore. I have no explanation for the mishap earlier. Technology is always malfunctioning around here, especially since it's half-manual, anyways. Don't waste your worrying on it." With that, Tundra padded down the hall, leaving Jay standing in the Police Station with over 10,000 Poke of debt and a panging anxiety in his chest.

"You can go now, dear," the Chimeco said, breaking Jay out of his thoughts. "I've already signed you out. Go find your parents."

"Ah...thank you," he muttered, his brain immediately interpreting that into finding Team Dazzletaz. He pressed the folder (which he quickly put the badge into) between his jaws, pushed open the glass doors with his body, and looked around the streets in a daze.

It was even more crowded than yesterday, when there had been the benefit of it being far past noon. A Cloyster immediately shoved into him, making him stumble back, only to be bumped into the curb by a bustling Snorunt.

Jay could feel himself panicking, and he tore off down a random street, his paws skidding and spiking with protest as he attempted to maneuver through the crowds. There was no time to look around at the buildings, even though everything he passed looked different than what he'd seen yesterday. He had no idea, he realized, where he was, and there were no maps in sight.

Where would Dazzletaz be? Most likely at the base, or would they be on a mission? Or maybe they were here, and he had passed them without realizing? He picked up his pace even more, head scanning frantically for anything familiar. The Pokemon around him seemed to blur in his vision as he sped up, his body prickling dangerously-

 _WHAM._

Jay heard a cry from his own mouth and a heavy grunt from one nearby as he sprawled to the ground, the folder flying from his mouth. He sat up quickly, feeling his chest and shoulders sting from where he had slammed into something.

Oh.

Someone.

"Sorry, sorry!" he cried, immediately scrambling to start picking up the papers that were scattered everywhere. He hoped that none of them had flown away, not after it had taken so long to get them…

The Bulbasaur pulled himself up into a sitting position, rubbing his head. His skin was pale for a Bulbasaur, Jay felt, and the Seed Pokemon was even smaller than he was.

"I'm in a rush," Jay continued, starting to get nervous. The Bulbasaur was just sitting there, eyes closed, paw pressed against the largest spot on his forehead. Did he really hit him that hard…?

"Are you okay?" he finally cried, shoving his collected papers in the folder and creeping tentatively towards the Bulbasaur.

His eyes opened, half-squinted. "Oh," he said, shaking his head and lifting his paw away. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just great. Are _you_...okay?"

"I didn't get rammed in the head," Jay said, going back to picking up the papers. A small circle had formed around the two of them, passerby stepping around them and otherwise ignoring them, which made it easier to grab anything that had flown away. It would be nice if somebody in that crowd would help, though.

"You look...not good." the Bulbasaur tried, seeming to fail. He slumped down, sweeping a few papers towards Jay with a long vine. How many files were there? He couldn't possibly have this much to be said about him.

Jay didn't respond, instead quickening his paper picking-up-ing. An idea struck him. "Do you live here?" he asked hurriedly, whirling around to face the Bulbasaur, who blinked in surprise.

"Um...temporarily?"

"Do you know where the Destiny Base is?"

"Oh." the Bulbasaur slumped even more, and his eyes seemed to dim. "I'm supposed to go there later, yeah."

"But do you know where it is?"

The Bulbasaur's ears flattened, and he looked nervous. "I can use a map. I don't...I can find it myself. I'm fine. I don't need a guide or anything."

" _No,_ _I_ need a guide," Jay explained. "I'm looking for some, er, friends there. I need to tell them that I got arrested." He looked at the Bulbasaur again, expecting that to explain his situation.

The Bulbasaur studied him warily. "Is this yours?" he finally asked, pushing Jay's badge in front of him with a sweep of his vines. Jay perked up immediately;the badge had been nowhere in sight.

"Yes!" he said quickly, grabbing the badge. A piece of metal immediately stabbed his paw pad, and he winced.

"That's a really cruddy badge," the Bulbasaur decided, studying it. "How long have you been on a team?"

"I'm not on a team," Jay said, thinking about asking Nitzi if he could join hers - well, Violet's, most likely. He liked the idea a lot. "I just...found this one."

"Is that why you were arrested?"

"No."

"Okay."

Jay swept the last paper into the folder and shoved the badge into it. "Well, anyways, I need to find the Destiny Base. Maybe join a team. I need to make some money. A lot of money."

"Yeah," the Bulbasaur agreed. Jay noted, somewhat frustratedly, that the Bulbasaur wasn't getting up.

 _Doesn't he have somewhere to go, just like everyone else in this city?_ Their bubble among the street was shrinking, and the crowds were starting to close in. "Hey, you wanna help me?" Jay asked suddenly, clamping the folder in his jaws. The Bulbasaur stared at him like he was crazy.

"What?"

"You said you were looking for the Destiny Base," Jay explained, talking around the folder. "So am I. Let's look for it together."

The Bulbasaur frowned at him, flicking an ear. "I was supposed to go later."

"It'll probably be later by the time we find it," Jay reasoned.

The Bulbasaur considered that, or he just stared at his paws tiredly. "Alright," he finally sighed, hauling himself up. "Scavenger hunt with a delinquent, sure."

"I didn't think of it like that!" Jay said, pleased with the analogy. "That makes this way more fun."

"Mmm."

They began to maneuver around the streets, clinging to the crowded sidewalks. Jay kept his tail sticking straight up so the Bulbasaur wouldn't lose him. It was both lucky and unlucky that they were so short, since dodging feet was their main obstacle.

"There's a plaza," the Bulbasaur finally called after a good twenty minutes of avoiding getting stepped on. Jay looked over to where he was pointing and did indeed see a circle of kiosks.

"Let's hope it has a map," Jay said, slipping away from the crowd. The plaza wasn't the one he'd been arrested in, but it looked pretty much the same, minus angry Bibarel fruit stand.

"Thank God," the Bulbasaur sighed, hurrying over to the map. He scanned it, running a vine along the many streets and plazas. The map reminded Jay faintly of a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, which made his stomach growl.

 _Hopefully we can redo that lunch thing once I find them_ , Jay thought wistfully, trying to make the map look like anything other than pasta. He failed miserably.

"Here," the Bulbasaur said, snapping Jay out of his food-related moping. "We've gotta make a right turn at the next plaza we see, then go straight, and that should take us to the hill it's on."

"How long will that take?" Jay asked, shoving away his thoughts of spaghetti and concentrating on the route the Bulbasaur had outlined.

"Hopefully less than an hour."

Jay fidgeted nervously, definitely hoping that it would take less than an hour. The folder was somewhat soggy around his mouth, and his teeth were making little holes in the glossy cardstock it was made of. He shifted it around in his jaws, accidentally biting down on the Dungeon Team Badge and wincing at the spike of pain up his teeth.

"Give that to me," the Bulbasaur snorted, yanking the folder from Jay's grip with a vine. It curled around the folder, holding it securely in a way that would foolproofly keep the papers and badge inside. "Are these important? School project?"

"School? No." Jay rubbed paper off his tongue gratefully, noting that the Bulbasaur was most likely around his age. "Do you go to school?"

"I did, yeah. I finished a month ago. The basic material to function."

"Oh….congrats?"

The Bulbasaur nodded, not looking very proud. "I'm here for a job," he said, matter-of-factly (a bit more downcast that matter-of-fact, maybe, but still in a very factual way).

"Are you going to join a team at the Destiny Base?"

The Bulbasaur scratched the back of his head with a vine (not the one holding the folder). "I dunno."

"Maybe I'll see you there!" Jay said, getting excited. "We could be rivals! Always fighting to one-up each other!"

"Mmm," the Bulbasaur muttered, stretching. "Are you in a rush?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Jay took off down the street again, making sure the Bulbasaur was following him.

"So what are these papers for, if it's not schoolwork?" said Bulbasaur asked, stepping carefully behind Jay as the crowds began to multiply around them. "Does it have to do with your criminal record?"

Jay nodded. "That and some files I needed. I have them all, now. Well, you have them for me, right now, but-"

"What did you do?" the Bulbasaur asked, cutting him off. Jay frowned.

"Shoplifting, apparently. And I think I attacked someone, but that was on accident. Oh, and vandalism of a cell. Also on accident. Partially."

"Huh."

Jay flattened his ears at the Bulbasaur, narrowly dodging a random spike (from a tail or elbow or ankle, he wasn't really sure). "So…" he said, trying to bat away the awkwardness between them. "What's your name?"

"Viridian." the Bulbasaur said, stoic and sour. Jay realized that his voice got like that a lot.

"Cool," he said, putting more spring in his step. "I'm Jay."

"Mm," Viridian muttered, not looking very interested with this news. "We'll probably have to turn soon. Keep an eye out for a plaza.

That proved difficult, since Jay was keeping an eye on not getting squashed or impaled at the same time. The rest of the trip was quiet, focused on avoiding crowds and taking the right routes. Jay thought a lot about the Destiny Base, about the Medical Wing and the spongy moss and going to the Department Room. He was excited, but something about it also made him nervous, and not in the jittery excited way. His mind kept shying away from working-

"Do you see it?" Viridian asked, rapping Jay on the top of his head. Jay brushed the vine away and looked around, confused.

"It's just city."

"Look _up_ ," Viridian explained, sounding exasperated. Jay did, surprised to see the huge structure of the base sitting on top of a hill.

"Oh, finally!" he said, getting excited all over again. He sped up, making sure Viridian was behind him, and beelined down the street, narrowly avoiding passby. The stone beneath his paws turned suddenly into dirt, and then into grass.

"We're here!" Jay cried happily, bouncing once and enjoying how the grass flicked against his paws. He looked back at Viridian and grinned.

The Bulbasaur was in much less of a good mood. "Not yet," he said, slumping down. "Now we have to _climb the hill_."

Jay shrugged. "It's not that steep."

His only response was a grunt.

"It's not _that_ bad," Jay assured him, giving the Seed Pokemon a friendly nudge. "It's a nice change after all that stone and cement! I hate stone. Let's go!" He started up into a trot, immediately faltering after a few feet when he realized Viridian wasn't following him.

"C'mon!" Jay said, bounding back down. Viridian looked down and placed the folder at Jay's feet.

"I'll come later."

"It _is_ later." Jay said. "Anyways, you can wait in there for whatever appointment you have.

Viridian didn't budge. "I don't have to go. Later can be never, you know. It's just an option. Lots of options. There are other options."

"Options?"

The Bulbasaur sighed. "How old are you, Jay?"

Jay paused, racking his brain. "I….er...I don't know. Young, I guess. That's what everyone says."

Viridian frowned, glancing at him a little before averting his eyes again. "I don't know. If you'd get it, I mean. I don't know how you were raised, and I don't want to make assumptions. But you're not working, are you?"

"...No," Jay said slowly, unsure where Viridian was going with this. "...Are you?"

"I'm not sure if I should be."

Jay felt a soft breeze wander against his fur, and he looked up at the Destiny Base again. "Well," he said, trying to move along. "If you're looking for work, or not-work, I guess, maybe you should try getting on a team?"

Viridian looked at Jay hard. "Is there a reason you're so keen to join the Base?"

Jay fidgeted, shrugging. "I need to make money, and Tundra told me it was my best option. Also, I have friends there - ahhhhh, oh no…" he trailed off, realizing that he'd been gone for almost twenty-four hours at this point. "They're probably so mad at me...or maybe they don't care...I don't know which one I'd prefer…."

"The anger, probably?" Viridian guessed, standing up. "Does this have to do with your famous arrest?"

"Yes!" Jay cried, seriously worried. How had he not considered this until now? Anxious thoughts of crowds and ghosts swarmed into his head. "I need to tell them _a lot of stuff_ about what's happened!"

"Sounds serious," Viridian mused. "Are they on some big-time team?"

"Yes! Well, no, probably not." he admitted. "But they kind of saved my life so you know, I feel bad for bailing out on lunch. Oh man. I hope we can redo that lunch."

The Bulbasaur tipped his head. "What kind of story do you have?"

"It's pretty short, if you think about it. Wow. I can only remember, like, 30 hours of my life. That is weird."

"What?"

"I agree."

Viridian shook his head and hefted a sigh. "You know what, I'll go up with you. If the leader of the Base is there, I might wanna have a word with him. Might help in deciding."

Jay nodded, grasping the folder in his mouth. "Yes, I might need backup. Probably not, but still."

"Better safe than sorry," Viridian pointed out, starting up the slope.

* * *

 **Getting places and meeting people, but it's moving along.**

 **This story started a year ago! (2 days late but shhhhh) Six chapters, boy that's underwhelming!**

 **That pawprint is not going to be shoved away, neither is the ghost or badge. Could it be...plot?**

 **Vir has finally arrived! It took an entire year to introduce the partner, this has to be some sort of record.**


End file.
